Spider-Marvel one shots
by valerianfelicis
Summary: Snippets of the love life of Spider-man and Captain Marvel, and how love can blossom within even the most dysfunctional groups of friends.
1. Advice from Cujo

**Ahoy, avid readers. Vociferous Valerianfelicis here with wondrous tales of superhero romance. This is actually my first story, if you can call it that. I planned to make it an epic tale of heart-stopping fights crazy adventures and daring deeds but I'm really only comfortable writing dialogue. The story wouldn't come to me, only these fractured fragments of a story, so apologies for the lack of chronology. I was going to set the scenes, reference the comics and where I was starting from (late 2012, but that's all you'll get) but I think you readers are smart enough to not require any of that excess. **

**This should go without saying but I have no legal claim to the Marvel universe or any of the characters within it. The same cannot be said in reverse, for it surely has claim to my heart.**

"What's on your mind, bug?" Logan asked, as though interrogating spider-man as to why he might not be prepared for a mission, barely betraying his true motive of asking as a friend.

"My skull." The arachnid themed hero quipped.

"That was weak, something's up."

Spider-man said nothing, but looked to the sky.

"Is this about Carol?" It was an educated guess, and though spider-man gave no visible reaction there was still enough of a reaction for Wolverine to pick up. "Don't get what's bugging you, she's into you and way out of your league, you hit the jackpot… again."

"Well that's just it. I mean I've been with plenty of women who were way out of my league," Peter ignored Logan's sudden coughing fit, "and was married to someone way out of my league." Still Wolverine was coughing, dying to say that Spider-man was just stating the obvious. "But Carol's not just got me beat in looks - I didn't realise you could still get lung infections with your healing powers, Cujo - but she's a different class of hero."

At this Logan just started laughing. "That's what you're worried about?"

"Well this is just great, you finally open up your closed-off heart to your superhero buddy and they just laugh at you. I'm not like you, Logan, I don't usually confide my emotions and this is just hurtful. May as well have spoken to Johnny Storm."

Spider-Man didn't even flinch as adamantium claws were suddenly touching his neck. He was one of the only people who never flinched around Wolverine, unless as a joke, not because he trusted his friend not to hurt him but purely because he'd be forewarned if there was an attempt.

"Take that back."

"Fine," Spidey conceded with raised hands. "When it comes to admitting feelings of inadequacy you're a slightly better confidant than the most arrogant person we know."

It didn't sound like the apology he wanted but he knew it was the best he'd get out of the spider and he withdrew his claws disgruntled.

"Don't know why you'd ever feel inadequate though."

"Are you kidding? You've met Carol, how could I not feel that way?"

"I've also met you." Wolverine said with rare sincerity. "Not long ago when the phoenix force came back who was the only one who took out two of the phoenix five?"

"Yeah but that was just…"

"Doesn't matter, pretty much all of the avengers were there and were hopeless, we leave you alone with the two of them, both of them against you, and when we return you're the only one left standing."

"Really? I don't remember being able to stand."

"And who's put away more super-villains than any other hero?"

"That can't be true."

"It is, pup." Wolverine said, subconsciously ruffling the baldhead of the spider-man costume. "And you've probably put away more criminals without powers than anyone else."

"That's just because I'm the only one who does."

"And who's taken out the sinister six countless times when even Avengers have failed?"

"I have." Peter said in a mock-bashful tone. Peter waited for more praise but it appeared Logan was willing to let all he had said sink in at this point. "Well thanks, Logan, seriously. This is going to make me so popular with the Avengers when I tell them the encouragement you gave me. Who knew you were a cute little puppy inside?"

"You utter one word of this conversation…" Wolverine decided to let the threat hang in the air but the spider-man was already swinging far away.

"But Odie, I'll need something to break the ice on my first date." Peter shouted into the wind.

The short x-man growled after the young wall-crawler, but as he turned away a small, proud smile was playing on his lips.

* * *

Spider-man had been patrolling New York the rest of the day. But it was absent-mindedly; his banter with criminals had considerably dipped that day as his mind replayed his conversation with Wolverine over in his mind.

"Toto's right." Spider-man suddenly said aloud.

"Who're you calling Toto, web-freak?" Said the villain currently being held by the scruff of his neck some fifteen feet above the ground as spider-man clung to the high wall of the bank.

"What?" Spider-man retorted, suddenly noticing his predicament, he shook his head as if waking from a deep sleep. "Oh sorry, I was miles away."

"What's wrong with you?" The would-be bank-robber asked with fear.

"Oh you know, girl troubles." Spidey said as he threw the criminal across the room into some ready-made webbing before jumping down to land between the door and an accomplice trying to make an escape. "You know it's the classic story." Spidey said as he punched the second robber across the room and onto the same webbing as the first. "She's amazing, 10 out of 10; drop-dead gorgeous and a big heart to boot." Spidey ducked as a bullet flew over his head before launching into a gravity defying back flip and simultaneously webbing the gun from the third and final robber. "While I'm just the humble spider-hero from the neighbourhood." Spider-man landed behind the robber and knocked him unconscious with a swift chop.

Spider-man picked up the unconscious robber and laid him on the web with his friends along with his usual calling card.

"Spider-man thank you for saving us. And by the way, I think any girl would be lucky to have you."

"Well thanks. I should go straight away to find Scarlett Johansson and tell her how I feel." At the shell-shocked looks of the people around him Spider-man thought it best to back track. "I was kidding. Don't go telling people about this, we don't want Doctor Octopus to ruin the chance of the Lost in Translation sequel I've been petitioning for." Spidey said before swinging from the crime scene.

* * *

"Hey Carol." Spider-man called after an Avengers meeting and everyone had left. "I was wondering…" He paused here. He was thankful, not for the first time, for his costume, but this time it was saving him from humiliation rather than securing his identity. His face was beet red and his palms were sweating furiously, but obviously none of this was visible. "Wondering if you'd like to go prevent a few crimes together."

"What do you mean?"

"Oh you know like, swing, or fly in your case, around New York a bit, see if there's a few damsels, or bachelors, in distress that need our help."

"Sure that sounds like it could be fun."

"Excellent." Peter said before launching himself out of the window. Oh the amount of times he'd wanted to do that before he had powers after trying to ask a girl out. Captain Marvel, after recovering from the shock, made to follow him.

She flew slowly, by her standards, beside him, as he swung around New York gracefully.

"So, do you have any siblings?" Spider-man asked. Carol almost laughed at the question.

"Yes I have two younger brothers, JJ, or Joe Junior, and Steve. Steve died serving the military."

"I'm sorry."

"What about you?"

"No siblings for me, my parents died when I was quite young and I was raised by my aunt and uncle."

"Of course, I'm sorry, I knew that."

"Don't worry, my aunt and uncle were amazing people and I basically consider them my parents, though still no siblings."

"What are they like?"

"Well my aunt's tough. I worry about her because of her age but she's never given me a reason to worry. In return she worries about me constantly too. My uncle was a great man, he died when I was 15 but I still try to live by his example."

"With great power comes great responsibility?"

"Yeah, he used to say that quite a lot."

A scream could be heard from the streets below.

"Ahh, they're playing my theme song, that means it's time for my entrance."

Spider-man then let go of his web and began falling to the ground. He cast one last web to allow him to land elegantly on the floor in front of the escaping mugger. He threw one horizontal arm out and clothes lined the criminal, who was knocked cold.

"And the crowd goes wild, hooray for spider-man!" He shouted as he blew kisses to the people looking from their windows in the surrounding buildings.

He picked up the bad guy and started webbing him to the lamppost as Captain Marvel landed beside him.

"You know you seem to be the only Avenger who actually goes looking for crime like this to stop."

"I guess the rest of you are just lazy slackers. The type people like J. Jonah Jameson hates."

"He hates you more than anyone."

"What! I thought he just slandered me to hide his secret admiration."

"Why do you do it?"

By this point the victim had caught up with them and snatched back the bag spider-man was offering her.

"Thank you Captain Marvel, I don't know what I'd've done, this has so many important things in it."

"I would have to say that when the people thank you it makes it all worthwhile." Spider-man joked.

The woman was already walking away but Carol decided to catch up to her.

"Ma'am, I didn't do anything, it's Spider-man you should thank."

The woman turned around and looked at the Web-slinger.

"Please, if you weren't here he'd've probably just taken my purse for himself."

Carol was gobsmacked. Hadn't this woman just seen what had occurred?

"You realise he's an Avenger?" Carol continued.

"And he probably tricked his way onto the team."

Peter could see Carol wouldn't likely let this go. "Hey Carol, I think I hear police sirens, that means more people in need of saving, lets go."

Carol gave a withering look before walking back to spider-man.

"Oh, and if they haven't already someone might want to call the police so they can take care of this guy," he gestured with his thumb to the guy webbed to the lamp post, "I would but this costume doesn't have pockets." He actually did have a phone on him, but he couldn't call the police every time spidey made an arrest, he had a secret identity to keep.

Spider-man then webbed away with Captain Marvel following at a sedate pace, for her at least.

"You didn't really hear sirens did you?"

"No but you were just getting into a pointless argument."

"It wasn't pointless, I was right."

"Yeah, but she saw everything that happened in front of her, I doubt you'll convince her with words."

"It just makes me so mad. All you do are good deeds and people hate you for it."

"Not everyone. If I have the respect of someone like you who cares what people like her think." This caused Carol to smile. "Hey, I didn't actually want to ask you if you wanted to come stop some petty crooks with me, I just got nervous and this is my default. Would you like to go on a date some time?" Carol beamed. "Unless, of course there's a mister marvel, or you have arachnophobia, although that would be pretty irrational because I doubt there's a spider that could pierce your skin but then that's kind of the definition of a phobia…"

Carol flew in front of him and placed a finger to his lips as she flew backwards. Her wide smile forced Peter to think of sunshine.

"I'd love to."


	2. Avengers' Round Table

"So is everyone present?" Steve Rodgers asked as he walked into the Avengers meeting area.

"Spider-man isn't." Carol Danvers responded.

"Is anyone surprised?" Clint asked.

"Does anyone know where he might be and when he might arrive?" Captain America asked of the group. No one came forward with any information.

"Have you checked with the Future Foundation?" Tony Stark asked.

"I'm here, aren't I? And he ain't part of the team anymore with Johnny back." The Thing responded.

"Is this urgent, Cap?" Natasha inquired.

"No, we can wait."

Wolverine chose that moment to turn on the TV so he could tune everyone out and was surprised, although not astoundingly so, to see the web-crawler on the screen.

"Here we are, live outside of a bank in midtown where the spectacular spider-man is in a fierce battle with the super-villain shocker." The television blared.

Everyone turned to either Logan or the TV in astonishment.

"I didn't know, but it was only likely." The x-man grunted.

"We can report that Spider-man has gotten the twelve hostages to safety and has engaged the criminal. Police have set up a perimeter so as to prevent more civilians coming in the way of danger. Thankfully though we can report that there have been no casualties or injuries so far."

As the news reporter said this Spider-man could be seen in the background crashing into a building.

"Do you think we should go help him?" Carol asked.

"Or just get the meeting started, Spider-man is clearly busy." Hawkeye suggested. Carol glared at him but he seemed oblivious.

"Well that's a great way to treat a fellow Avenger." Carol seethed.

"He has ways of contacting us." Tony Stark said diplomatically. "If he needed help he would have asked. Plus it's someone he's dealt with many times before."

"When was the last time, or even the first, that Spider-man actually asked us for help rather than the other way around?"

No one answered, which in itself was answer enough.

"Guys, this is a pointless argument." Luke Cage interjected, pointing to the television.

It seemed the fight was over; Spider-man was standing close to the cameras above a clearly beaten Shocker, whose costume was in tatters, and was now applying webbing to hold the villain down. Then spider-man visibly seemed to notice the cameras for the first time and struck a heroic pose.

"And stay out of New York!" He declared in his best heroic voice.

The Avengers in the tower all groaned.

"Spider-man, a few words for channel 4 news?"

"Well, since you said please." Spider-man acquiesced.

"Now he's doing an interview? Doesn't he know we're waiting?" Mockingbird raged.

"So d'you want a Captain America? I was just doing my duty and am glad nobody got hurt." Spider-man said in his best impression. "Or maybe Iron Man? Yes it was extremely heroic of me and yes I always have time to give out autographs, but first what say you to dinner tonight at 8, beautiful?"

The avengers looked to the two who had been poked fun of while trying to stifle laughter. Captain America had his usual look of calm stoicism while Tony wore a mask of mock-outrage. All were shocked when Captain Marvel let loose a small giggle.

"Spider-man," the reporter said, unaffected by his jokes, "you've been gaining popularity again recently, any plans to go back to television?"

"No. But that's actually an interesting question with a complex reasoning, you see…"

"Spider-man," A policeman said, coming into frame. "We were hoping to get your statement at the precinct."

"This old song and dance. You won't take my statement unless I take off the mask, so it ain't happening. I just remembered I'm running late for an Avengers meeting," Spider-man said as though making up an excuse, "and you know, duty calls and such. But we're still on for tomorrow at that grocery store hold-up? Excellent." He said before swinging away from the scene.

The TV suddenly went blank and everyone turned to Logan with the remote in his hand.

"5 minutes starting now." Wolverine growled and scribbled down the time to the second.

"What?"

"My bet, for how long he'll be."

"10 minutes," Ben said. "He's bound to run into some other crime on his way. We saying 10 bucks each?"

"Sounds good," Clint said, "I'll go 8 minutes."

"With the distance from there to here, factoring in the delay for a live feed and accelerating time, 1 minute 14 seconds, and make it twenty." Tony Stark said.

"You're mad, that's like the best time, but this is Spider-Man we're talking, I'll say another 15 minutes." Luke Cage put in.

"3 and a half minutes." Carol said.

"Carol?" Jess asked; it wasn't like her to join in with this stuff.

"What, I always win when I bet on Spider-man." Carol responded mistaking the question being about the chances of winning the bet as opposed to her doing something out of character.

"Anyone else?" Clint asked.

"I'd've gone for 5, don't want to lose money so I'm good." Jess said.

No one else responded so everyone looked to the clock.

"What was the starting time?" Jessica Jones asked.

"6 minutes past exactly." Wolverine answered.

"Unlucky, Stark." Clint mocked.

"Technically I've got until 8 minutes and 22 seconds past before Carol takes it." Tony responded.

"So has anyone seen the new Batman film yet?" Spider-woman asked.

"Can't we just enjoy the time Spider-man isn't here by not having this kind of conversation?" Clint joked.

"So you have seen it and don't want to talk about how much you enjoyed it?" Jessica teased.

"As if. It's all a pile of…"

"Hey guys, sorry I'm late, I was at the cinema, and you know the rules, no phones or Avengers calling cards allowed." Spider-man said as he crawled through the open window.

"What's the time?" Tony asked.

"8 minutes and 24 seconds at time of arrival." Wolverine said with his tone flecked with laughter.

A collective groan went around a few members at the table, none larger than Tony Stark's, as five of them handed twenty dollars to Carol.

"Did I miss something?" Spider-man asked.

"You just won me a hundred bucks." Captain Marvel announced smugly.

"Excellent, do I get a cut?"

"I suppose," she said, offering him 10 dollars, "go buy yourself something pretty."

"I know you're only offering that to me as a joke, but I'm strapped for cash so thank you." Spider-man said, reaching out for the money before Carol quickly withdrew her hand.

"Well if that's how you want to act about my charity maybe I'll just keep it."

"Please, I'll be good."

"You know we know you weren't at the movies, we saw you fighting shocker on TV." Bobbi said, interrupting the infatuated heroes.

"Sorry. Next time I won't be late because I'm saving hostages, only if it's something as important as watching Batman punch Bane in the jaw… wait, you saw it, interview included?"

"Yep." Tony said simply.

"Well I'm sure you managed to get through the meeting without me. And Santa's little helper here," Spider-man placed his hand on Wolverines head who growled angrily causing Peter to hastily retreat his hand, "can fill me in on it later."

"Spider-man." Captain America said as Spider-man reached the window he had just entered, his voice betraying nothing but a desire to commence the meeting. "Sit."

Spider-man obeyed almost immediately.

"So I gathered you all here today because I think we need to make some changes to the way the Avengers currently operate." Cap started. "I know the two teams system has worked alright but I don't think it can last and I think there are better methods. I want you all to be part of the same team."

"Cap, I thought we had a deal." Luke spoke up.

"Just listen. It makes more sense because then we can customise the team to the situation. Obviously if you want to set up a team yourself you'll be able to contact any one of the Avengers. I think it goes without saying that either Luke or Tony would be in command of the teams, or whoever best suits the mission if they are unavailable."

"That would be perfect for me, this whole two teams thing is killing me," Peter said.

"Weren't you on three teams, two shouldn't be too bad?"

"Yeah, and I need a break. Please Luke, say yes."

"It sounds reasonable, you've kept good on your word so far, I'll give it a shot. But I still don't like the idea of the government calling the shots." Luke said.

"With the Avengers it never feels like the shots are being called, the government might just alert us to possible end of the world threats before we discover them." Tony offered.

"Besides, you're allowed to turn down missions if you like, none of this is compulsory. But obviously your pay-checks will reflect that." Cap said.

"Hey has the rule changed about being allowed both a secret identity and a pay-check?" Spidey queried.

"Unfortunately not." Cap responded.

"It's only because they know you'll never turn a job down." Ben said

"What can I say, I'm just a glutton for saving the world."

"So everyone's agreed?" Cap asked. There were no voices of dissent. "Excellent. I assume some of you will eventually be able to get the word to Hulk, Thor, Iron Fist and Daredevil. So shall we each give an update, you start Spider-man, given you were late."

"Aye aye, Cap." Peter said as he gave a salute. "Let me set the scene." He said and jumped up onto his chair and began gesturing with his hands. "It is a period of civil war." Carol started giggling. "Rebel spaceships, fighting from a hidden base, have won their first victory against the evil galactic empire. During the battle, rebel spies…"

"Wait is that Star Wars?" Clint asked.

There were a few face-palms around the table, as those who had known instantly couldn't believe it had taken this long while others now wore faces of recognition.

"Spider-man, be serious." Cap urged.

"What? The highlight of my week was watching Star Wars with my new girlfriend." Few noticed Carol blush as he said this. That was her highlight too, but it was nice to hear.

"But no one cares about your personal life, bub."

"Oh, Spike, you wound me." Spider-man said as he clutched his heart and collapsed back into his seat.

"Spider-man." Cap said. He seemed to also say that it would be the last warning, but he didn't need to speak it aloud to get the point across.

"Fine, there was some FF stuff, but Rocky would be better to ask, and I'm off the team now, some New Avengers stuff, and some old, but Luke and ferrous-head can get to those. Apart from that I went to space to save John Jameson with flame-breath, but I think Cap knows about that. Oh and there was a Sandman thing with the human flashlight too. There was almost a disaster at Horizon that destroyed New York, but this time Peter Parker saved the day, not Spider-man, I already detailed tin-man on that one. Teamed up with Daredevil and Black Cat, Matt can say more about that. The sinister six global-warming plot was foiled, but I guess you guys know about that, it was quite public. And, um, this week there were 5 bank robberies, 3 car chases, 12 muggings, 2 gang fights, 9 hold ups, 6 burning buildings and 5 cats in trees." The last part was sung in the style of The Twelve Days of Christmas.

As always silence followed Peter's update.

"Oh and Shocker, but you guys saw that on TV."

"Wait you're not joking, are you?" Clint asked.

"I'm always serious about crime."

"Says the guy who started singing the theme tune to underdog during a fight against HYDRA." Ben laughed.

"But it's also Wolverine's theme song, he can't go into battle without it." Carol laughed at this, as did a few others.

"You've heard Spider-man's updates before," Cap stated.

"Yeah, Hawkeye, is this really such a shock?" Carol asked.

"Well yeah, but I always thought he was joking. I mean he's always on the news but I figured that's cause the media loved him."

"Yeah, it's like a hug every time I read about myself in the paper." Peter joked.

"I meant loved writing about you. But it's just because you're everywhere."

"Did it take you this long to realise?" Cap asked.

"Wait so everything he says in updates is true?" Jessica Jones asked, finally realising that if Cap thought them true, they probably were.

"Pretty much." Peter said.

"Wow."

"I mean it isn't that difficult. I often prevent a couple crimes to and from work, or wherever I'm going."

"So that's why you're always late." Clint said as if in understanding.

"Seriously, guys, how long have I been on this team?"

"Well yeah, but I can never tell if you're being serious." Mockingbird said.

"So you really do all that stuff in a week?"

"Depends on the week."

"And you're in three superhero teams?"

"Only one actually, as of 5 minutes ago, but there was a time when I was on three."

"And you work at Horizon labs?"

"I actually invented those headphones that Tony likes."

"There's no way you're seeing someone, there isn't time."

"Ah, you got me, that was a joke." Carol looked down at this. But she had been the one to suggest keeping it a secret.

"Still though, Jesus Christ."

"The messiah? Yeah I guess I am sorta like the Son of God. But like a spidery God with eight limbs and a penchant for bad luck."

"OK, who wants to go next?" Cap asked. Nobody volunteered.

"Come on Bobbi, you're usually raring to divulge." Tony said.

"Yeah, but I'd rather not follow the Paul McCartney of Avengers updates."

"I'd be perfectly happy to say something stupid if it would put you at ease." Pete suggested.

"Fine, I'll go, if only to shut you up for a bit."

* * *

After the meeting Jessica Drew instantly pulled Carol into her room.

"OK, what the hell was that?" Jess asked.

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh come on, how long have you been dating Spider-man, and why the hell haven't you told your best friend?"

"We wanted to keep it a secret, or I wanted to. I just thought it would be difficult if everyone found out. Only Logan knew."

"LOGAN! I'm your best friend."

"Yeah, but Pete apparently asked Logan for some advice before we started dating."

"He asked Logan for advice?"

"Apparently it was good advice but he wouldn't tell me it, something about not wanting Snoopy to shove an adamantium claw up his ass."

"So how long has this been going on?"

"Almost a month."

"A MONTH! Oh it's all starting to make sense. Wow, have you gone all the way?"

"We're adults, Jess."

"Of course. I don't believe it. Spider-man? What's he like on a date? Spider-man? I can't imagine him being romantic, is he romantic? Spider-man? I mean I knew you had a thing for him a while back but lately you hadn't had the same sexual tension. Well duh, you were both getting some with each other, tension broken. Spider-man? Do you like him?" Jess seemed to ask all this in one breath. Carol gave her a wide smile, one she was unaccustomed to giving.

"Jess, I think I'm falling for him."


	3. Gwen

"So I was thinking, Spidey," Carol said seductively, "that we could do something special this Saturday."

"I would love to," Spider-man responded with an equally flirtatious tone. "What's the date on Saturday again?"

It had sort of become a running joke between them. Peter Parker never knew the date and rarely had anything planned more than a day in advance. And when he did it was only a couple of days ahead.

"June 13th." Carol said, keeping the same sexy tone.

"Oh." Peter responded, suddenly sombre.

"Peter?"

"Oh – erm – sorry Carol, don't think I can do Saturday, I have – erm – plans." Peter said hurriedly.

"Peter? What the hell?"

"How about Sunday? Yeah, let's wait 'til Sunday. Is that gunshots I hear? I should be off, civilians in danger and all that."

Peter swung off into the concrete jungle of New York City, Carol considered chasing after him but wondered if it would do any good.

"Ouch."

"Doreen? How long have you been there?" Carol asked.

"Not long, don't worry. But I saw enough of it." Squirrel girl responded while she tended to the baby in her arms.

"I don't understand, he's usually so honest with me. I mean I don't think he's doing anything wrong, it's Peter, but he could at least tell me." Carol ranted.

"I doubt Peter's doing anything dubious. He's always been a bit of an enigma, but never in a bad way. If it were me I'd go ask Stark, he seems to know Peter well. But you're not like that though."

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, you know, crazy girlfriend type who goes chasing after her boyfriend."

"Even if I did go asking after him that wouldn't make me a crazy girlfriend stereotype, a stereotype I hate by the way, he's the crazy one."

"Don't worry, I don't think anybody would argue with you on that point."

* * *

Captain Marvel landed in the Avengers building to be greeted by Iron Man, Captain America and Hawkeye. They all shared nonchalant greetings.

"Do any of you guys know where Peter is?"

"He requested a personal day." Came Captain America's response.

"Peter, Spider-man Peter?"

"We assumed that if you were asking for Peter it was for Spider-man." Tony mused.

"Since when has Peter, ever, taken a day off?" Carol asked.

"She has a point there." Clint said. "Guy's never taken a vacation. Even when he's on three super-hero teams and taking care of petty crime everyday as well as his own super-villains, and that's just his life as spider-man. Guy has this slacker image, but he's anything but."

"Did you ask him what he was doing today?" Tony inquired.

"Yes and he just did that babbling thing and swung off."

"He does tend to do that rather a lot." Cap said.

"It's a scientist thing." Tony said. "Somebody says something and a light bulb goes off and it's a one track mind from then until the problem's solved."

"Well all I told him was today's date."

"It's probably something personal then. I don't know anything about it; I'd try Logan or Johnny Storm." Tony told her.

"Well thanks, maybe I should go talk to them."

"Carol. Peter's a good guy; he wouldn't do anything to hurt you. This might be something he just wants to keep to himself, it doesn't mean it's something that would make you mad." Tony said

"I know, I'm not hunting him down out of anger, just worry. So far there's nothing he hasn't let me in on." Carol said dejectedly. "So do any of you have Reed Richards phone number?"

* * *

Carol landed on the roof of the Baxter Building and was met by all the members of the Fantastic Four except Ben.

"Carol, it's nice to see you but this is something of a surprise." Reed greeted.

"Finally realised that the hottest superhero in town isn't Webhead but yours truly?" Johnny joked.

"Come inside, it'll be nicer to talk in the living room." Sue offered.

The four superheroes made their way inside and sat down at the dining table in the building.

"Would you like something to drink?" Sue asked.

"No thanks, doubt I'll be here for long. I'm just looking for Peter."

"Well you could've asked us that upstairs, he ain't here."

"And you don't know where he might be?"

"He's not in danger is he?" Reed asked.

"No. Actually I don't know." Carol responded. "Sue, do you ever say something to Reed and he'll mutter or say something incomprehensible and leave without explanation?"

"All the time!" Johnny yelled with years of pent-up frustration. Reed pulled at his collar in embarrassment.

"Did you check at Horizon Labs? Sounds like he had a scientific breakthrough." Sue said

"Yeah, Tony said the same, 'it's a scientist thing.'" Carol said. "But all that happened was he found out today's date, so it's not that I don't think. Do any of you know what's important about today?"

"Not today." Johnny said.

"Erm, what?"

"Webhead doesn't think about the future, at least not by more than 5 seconds, but he's always carrying around the past. I'm guessing something happened to him on this date." Jonny expanded.

"But you don't know what?" Carol further inquired.

"Nah he doesn't talk about himself all that often, which is odd for someone who never shuts up. But I've been around him enough." Johnny said. "Listen, if this is about his past I doubt it's anything for you to worry about and he might not be ready to talk to you about this."

"I know but I'm worried and… and I love him."

"Congratulations." Sue and Reed exclaimed.

"Lucky guy." Johnny muttered.

"Have you told each other yet?"

"No, but thanks. Maybe I should try and find Logan."

"Doubt Logan'll be of any more use than I was." Johnny said. "Less so in fact because he'll just be annoyed to be dragged into this." Everyone chuckled knowingly at that. "If you really want to find answers about Webs the only person who might have them is MJ."

"His ex-wife?"

"Yeah, she knows everything about him, she'll know."

* * *

The knock that Carol gave to the door was a bit harsher than she intended, but the wood only splintered slightly instead of crashing through the apartment, so it could have been worse. A stunning redhead opened the door. Looking at her Carol started to feel a little self-conscious.

"Oh hello, it's Carol, isn't it?" Mary Jane greeted pleasantly.

"Yeah – er – hello, sorry to come here like this." Carol said.

"Oh don't worry about it, I was half-expecting to see you today." MJ chuckled.

"You were?"

"Yeah, and I knew for certain when my night club called and said Captain Marvel had been asking for me, though that was only seconds ago." She chuckled again. "Peter was here earlier by the way."

"He was?"

"Today is a difficult day for the both of us."

"Why?"

"I really don't think I should be the one to tell you."

"I'm sorry, I feel like I'm coming across as the crazy girlfriend. You know, asking all the other superheroes, turning to his ex-wife. This isn't like me."

"Oh don't worry about it at all. You don't have to tell me, I was married to him, so I know what Pete's like."

"He did this to you all the time as well?"

"Yeah, I thought when I found out about him being spider-man it would stop, but it just became less frequent."

A silence followed these words, as Carol didn't know what to say.

"But he would always tell me the truth eventually. You'd wonder why you put up with him and then you'd be together again that night and know that it's all worth it."

"Do you still have feelings for him?"

"Yes." MJ said bluntly.

"Then why did you break up, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Of course not. I guess I just couldn't handle all of the life-threatening scenarios involved with being married to Spider-man. But that's not something you have to worry about." MJ said with a smile.

"So if he was here earlier do you know where he is now?"

"He's almost certainly on the George Washington Bridge."

"Aren't you going to tell me that he'd rather be left alone and it could be a mistake to go after him?" Carol asked, MJ laughed.

"Is that what Tony Stark said?"

"And Johnny Storm."

"Hah, well they don't know Pete as well as me. He may seek solitude, but it's rarely what he needs, you'd really help him right now. I was half considering calling you up and asking you to go look for him but it might sound weird from me, also I don't have your number."

"I see, well I don't have a card or anything, no pockets, I'll just ask Pete to give it to you." Carol said with a smirk, MJ laughed.

"I can imagine his response: 'I knew my Peter Parker sense was tingling.'"

"Or; 'you're not concocting some sinister plan to get us to have dinner are you or, God forbid, have a girl's night?'" Carol joked, the two laughed at the imagined antics of Spider-man. "Well I'm glad I came here now, you're a great person, I hope we can be friends." Carol smiled.

"I'd like that."

* * *

Carol landed atop the George Washington Bridge to see Spider-man in his black costume, on his knees, mask clasped in his hand. He seemed to be sobbing. Carol just stood there, not saying anything. She knew Peter was aware of her presence but thought it better to wait for him to speak.

"Gwen Stacy was my first love." He finally spoke. Carol remained silent. "She was amazing, though she never knew I was Spider-man, at least not until right at the end. Norman Osborn found out my identity and kidnapped her. He brought her here and waited until I arrived before he threw her off the bridge. I caught her with my web but the whiplash must have caused her neck to break. She died all because some mad man found out I was Peter Parker. I couldn't do anything to save her, and it was because of me that she died, she was completely innocent."

He finally stood up and practically collapsed into Captain Marvel's arms. She held the embrace for a long time, letting him grieve. They stood there in each other's arms in silence for a few minutes. Carol wanted to tell him it wasn't his fault, it was Osborn's, but she doubted it would help; he just needed someone to hold him. Finally Spider-man leaned back and looked at the marvel before him.

"So." He said, no hint of sadness left in his voice. "Must've taken you a while to track me down." He teased.

Carol sputtered in indignation. She was about to respond with an insult but was stopped by two arms on her shoulders.

"Thank you." He said sincerely. "Carol, I love you."

The smile that lit up her face was radiant. It was a mark of the fact that Peter Parker wasn't a photographer to the core because any photographer would see her smile from atop that bridge with the sunset behind her as an opportune moment for a picture. But Peter was lost in the moment; her smile had rendered all of his usual brain functions worthless. He didn't need a photo either; the image would be etched in his memory forever.

"I love you too."

Their kiss was one of great passion and intensity, and to them it felt as long as the earlier embrace. When they had finally reveled in each other's tongues for long enough they broke apart and smiled at each other.

"Come on." Captain Marvel said and began to hover horizontally beside him. "I'll give you a ride home."

Peter hopped onto her back with great enthusiasm, finally putting the mask back on.

"And Parker must have seen the snitch," Spider-man said in a British accent as Captain Marvel flew away from the bridge with great speed, "because he's taken off like a rocket!"

"Hey, your comparison of me with a broomstick better not be some form of latent sexism." Danvers warned.

"Yeah, that's where the association comes from not that you can fly or anything." Spider-man retorted. "Besides the only reason I might associate you with a broomstick is you make me do all the sweeping and I'm powerless to say no."

"Ahh, poor ickle Spider-man, can't defend himself from his bully girlfriend."

"I know, I'm one of the many men oppressed in this woman's world."

"Speaking of powerful women you know, I saw Mary Jane today."

"I guessed, given you knew where to find me."

"Yeah, she's a great person, you should give her my number." Carol said with a hidden smirk.

"Sure. I can do that now actually." Peter responded as he fumbled with his costume and procured his phone. Carol's smirk became a frown; she was expecting a funnier response.

"Hello, Webs? What's up?" Carol heard Wolverine's voice but with a mechanical twinge. Clearly Peter hadn't sent her number but dialed up Logan and put it on speaker.

"Brian! The Apocalypse is back!" Peter shouted as Carol laughed.

"WHAT?" Wolverine shouted in response.

"Yeah, Carol just asked me to give MJ her number. I'm 100% certain. The Apocalypse is coming." There was silence for a few moments.

"When I next see you, Webs, I'm gonna shove my claws…" Peter chose that moment to hang up. Carol was laughing beneath him, Peter mused that this was a bit like turbulence. Maybe what they said about cell phones and flying was right.

"Did you call him Brian? That's a new one."

"Yeah, you know, from family guy."

"Oh, of course." Carol said and paused. "I can't imagine Logan getting that reference."

"Can you imagine him getting any references to cartoon dogs?"

"Fair enough." She said. "I still can't believe you get away with that."

"Well, many have the guts to say it to him once, few would ever dare twice. I think he respects my bravery." Carol laughed at the idea, especially because it sounded like it could be true. "You should've seen it when I visited his school, the students looked at me with such respect when I called him Peabody." He jumped from Captain Marvel's back and landed on his roof. It was so much faster with her. Carol came to a stop next to him. "I almost felt bad for the kid who tried to copy me. So is this goodbye, or do you want to come inside?" Spider-man asked, Carol almost thought she saw his mask wink.

"I think I can come inside for a while." She said, licking her lips seductively. Mary Jane was right, Carol mused; she would go through thousands of days like these if it meant they ended up like this.


	4. Meet the Parents

"So, Cap, you and me, patrolling the streets. The two fun ones of the Avengers, we should do something crazy, I know this great little nightclub." Spider-man rambled.

Spider-man was swinging through the streets of New York alongside the American hero who was leaping from building to building.

"Not a nightclub person? I get what you mean; the music is terrible and too loud, can't have a decent conversation at all. The drinks are always overpriced but the place I had in mind I have an in with the owner. And if you go in costume I doubt you'd have to pay for a drink anywhere. Then again I rarely see you drink anything but tap water anyway. OK, well we could go to…"

Spider-man was disrupted as a scream rent the night air. Spider-man turned towards Cap but he had disappeared. It was obvious where Cap had gone so Spider-man followed the sound of the scream. He came to find a narrow alleyway with a dead end, three knocked out criminals and Captain America bending down to lift his shield. An attractive woman was rushing over to him.

"Thank you, Captain America, I don't know what would have happened to me if you weren't here."

"Don't mention it ma'am."

"Aww, you couldn't have left just one for me to punch?" Spider-man complained as he clung to the wall of the alley.

"Ahh, spider-man!" The would-be victim screamed as she placed herself behind Captain America. "Don't do anything, web-freak, Captain America's here."

"Ma'am Spider-man is one of the good guys."

"Nuh-uh, my friend once saw him fight the Green Goblin and the way they joked with each other it was like they were best friends."

"She's got you there, Cap, my friendship with Gobby is well documented."

"Come on, let's go."

"You can't leave me here while Spider-man's around."

"Ma'am, I promise you spider-man won't do anything to hurt you."

Captain America then proceeded to run at the wall. He took a step up the wall, jumped back, swiveled his body and latched onto a fire escape. He flipped himself up onto it and ran up a flight of stairs before leaping off it and grabbing onto the building that completed the dead end, before pulling himself up and disappearing from view.

"Wow," spidey said as he turned to the woman, "he's amazing isn't he."

"Don't speak to me, Spider." She said before running off. With a sigh spider-man chased after Captain America.

"You realize that when you said you promised I wouldn't hurt her she's gonna think that means I wouldn't do anything with you around not that I wouldn't consider it." Spider-man said, and was surprised to find Captain America standing still atop the building.

"Spider-man, we need to talk."

"This isn't about what she said, right? I was joking about being friends with the green Halloween advert. Ahh, you won't kick me off the team will you?"

"Spider-man, this is serious."

"Sorry, it's hard to tell with you sometimes. What's this about?"

"I just wanted to ask as to the relationship between you and Captain Marvel."

"Relationship?" Spider-man uttered nervously. "Don't know that I would call it that, I mean yeah, we're good friends, but relationship? You make it sound like we're, umm. We're good friends Cap."

"So I didn't see Peter Parker and Carol Danvers curled up on the sofa together watching a movie and kissing each other?"

"Where did you see this, or at least where do you think you saw it?"

"In the Avengers mansion. You see I know we swapped it for the tower but I was there just making sure it was still usable, only to find that not all of the Avengers had abandoned it."

"I see…"

"Son, relationships are not prohibited among the Avengers and if you two are serious I fully support…"

"She's the one who wanted to keep it a secret." Peter interjected. "I mean I was happy with whatever she wanted, but she was the one who said that if you all found out before we knew where we were going that it would probably never work.

"I didn't realize it but the sneaking around and the secrecy, well I really enjoyed it. But more amazing is that she does too. Keeping it between ourselves has really helped us and I don't think we're ready to let everyone else know."

"Fine, son, you have my word, I won't tell anyone."

Peter smiled at this. He knew Captain America wouldn't tell a soul if he'd given his word. He could trust Logan not to purely because Logan wouldn't want to talk about it, and no one would even think to ask him. But if Captain America gave his word, then there was likely no amount of torture on earth that could make him spill.

"Great! So then should we go find more crime to stop, you took all those bad guys out last time and I'm itching to get my gloves…" Spider-man trailed off when he felt a firm arm on his shoulder.

"Actually, I didn't want to talk to you about the secrecy, there was something else as well."

"Oh?"

"Yes. I care about Carol deeply, like a daughter. If you hurt her," Captain America leaned in closer and began whispering, "You may get a much closer view of this shield."

A shiver ran along Peter's spine, and then swept through the rest of his body as well. All sorts of crazy super-villains had threatened him before, but none had chilled him to the core like that. He was standing stock-still; he didn't dare move a muscle right now.

"Now come on, you said you have an itching in your glove? I know the perfect cure." Captain America said as he started leaping from building to building again.

Spider-man shook himself off and took a few seconds to compose himself, and check that he hadn't wet his pants, before following after Captain America.

"You know, I don't think I'm even capable of hurting her, someone should ask her not to hurt me." Spider-man shouted after Captain America.

"I wasn't talking physical injuries, son."

"Neither was I." Spider-man uttered quietly.

* * *

"He said that? That's nice of him."

"That was not 'nice of him.'" Peter all but shouted as he threw his arms up into the air. "I was scared more than I've ever been before, and I once watched the Shining on the massive TV in the Avengers tower beside the Hulk."

"Cap's a sweetheart, he'd never really hurt you, you know." Carol laughed

"Yeah, a sweetheart to you, who he views as a daughter. But to her geeky boyfriend who has been seeing her for a month." Carol just laughed even more. "You weren't there, it was chilling. OK it was a winter night in New York but he made it feel like I'd been trapped in ice for 30 years. I know he's like the World War 2 hero and we can't say a bad word against him, but I reckon that stay in the arctic gave him some new powers."

"Now you're just being ridiculous."

"Am I? I swear I would've pissed myself if all the water in my body hadn't been frozen." Carol just laughed.

"OK, we're beginning our descent to Boston now."

Spider-man gripped the edge of his seat.

"Captain America and flying, you're really revealing your true colours as a scaredy-cat."

"It's not flying, I've flown on you before, haven't I?"

"That better not be a slight against this plane then."

"Oh no, I'm sure this plane was state-of-the-art, some fifty years ago."

"Well I can always throw you out the window and see how you do without it."

"OK, it's not this plane, just planes in general." Spider-man said as he gripped the plane even harder as they descended lower.

"You realize I'm one of the greatest pilots in this country."

"I told you it's not you I don't have faith in, just planes."

"Well we're going to have to cure you of this phobia, but not right now I need to land this thing." Carol said as she began concentrating on the controls in front of her, spider-man gulped.

Predictably the plane landed on the runway to Logan International Airport without a single hiccough.

"See, that wasn't so bad, was it?"

"Says the person who could just fly away if something went wrong, and who would probably walk away from a plane crash without a scratch."

"Now you're just being a baby."

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Peter!" The babyish bickering was interrupted as the two saw Peter's aunt/mom along with her husband waving to the two of them.

Peter ran up to his aunt and wrapped her up in a massive hug.

"Aunt May! I didn't realize they let teenagers onto the runway."

"It helps when you're the father of the mayor of New York." Her husband said.

"You two." May blushed red.

"Mum, dad." Peter said in the credence of a joke, but he used those nouns affectionately and with sincerity. "I'd like you to meet my girlfriend Carol Danvers slash Captain Marvel." He said as Carol's tentative steps finally made it to the family gathering.

"It's a pleasure to meet you." Aunt May said with a wide smile.

"You too."

"So, Peter." Jay Jameson said as he draped an arm across his shoulder and marched away from the two women. "My son still giving you a hard time about your crime fighting?" Peter shot Carol an apologetic look over his shoulder.

"So, Carol," Aunt May began, walking at a much slower pace, "Peter's told me a lot about you. In fact in our phone conversations you're all he ever talks about."

"Wow, thank you. Peter talks about you all the time too, and always with the highest regard." Aunt May smiled at this, but it was not one that invited Carol's confidence.

"He cares about you a lot."

"Thank you, I care about him a lot too." This time the smile that lit up Aunt May's face did relax Carol.

"He's been hurt a lot, Peter." Aunt May said and the smile was gone. "Both as Spider-man and Peter Parker." Carol was silent. "I know it's inevitable in life, but I really don't want to see him hurt again." There it was. That was definitely a threat.

"I don't intend to hurt Pete…"

"I'm sure you don't. But you should still know that if you hurt him, his pain won't even be worth a tenth of my retribution. Captain Marvel or not."

Carol visibly gulped. "I understand." Was all Carol could think to say in response.

"Then I'm sure we'll be great friends!" May declared a smile back on her face and she picked up the pace again. "I've got a great dinner planned tonight, Pete's favourite. He told me you liked his cooking and I taught him everything he knows."

Carol could barely follow the conversation as she stared ahead blankly. Aunt May seemed to expect this though as she seemed not to mind Carol's state. Seeing the discrepancy of expression on his two favourite women Pete decided to hang back.

"Are you OK?"

"I don't think I'll tease you about Captain America again."

"Aunt May told you off for that? What did you guys even talk about?"

"Oh it wasn't anything like that. I just think I'm terrified of your 63 year old aunt."

Peter laughed aloud. "Well it's good to know that neither of us is going to consciously hurt the other."

"Yeah, because we're terrified of what will happen if we do."

Both of them sported a far off look for a few seconds before shivering intensely, then shaking it off and continuing ahead, trying to pretend those two conversations were just dreams.


	5. A Hot-headed Chat

"Peter! Someone left a message for you." Carol called into his bedroom.

"I thought you were in the shower." Pete responded as he entered the living room.

"I was, but I like to have a shower then a snack afterwards."

"Well OK. Hey, there's no messages on the machine."

"It's not on the machine."

"Wha…" Pete turned to Carol in confusion but she was simply pointing to the window with a smile on her face.

Pete looked out the window and was immensely shocked to see giant flaming letters spelling out the message: WEBS, RENDEZ-VOUS POINT

"Oh my God… he's, he's alive!" Peter turned to Carol with a tear in his eye. "And he learned a new word."

* * *

"Johnny, I can't believe it. You're alive. Oh my God." The web-slinger said as soon as he landed atop the statue of liberty and pulled one of his best friends into a hug.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm amazing. Your life was terrible without me. You can't believe you've got your brother back. Blah blah blah." Johnny said brushing him off almost nonchalantly. "Tell me about Ms. Marvel."

"It's actually captain now and… woah, how did you know about that? We've only been going out a couple weeks and barely told anyone."

"Peter, Peter, Peter." Johnny said patronizingly. "You can't hide anything from me. I resurrected, I'm like the second coming of the Messiah."

The disbelieving look on Peter's face was distinguishable even beneath his mask.

"Well as you know you usurped my place on the team." Johnny began accusatorily.

"Which you asked me to do."

"Yeah, in the event of my death, which we can quite clearly see did not occur."

"OK, so what's my usurping your position got to do with you finding out?"

"Sue worked it out."

"Sue worked it out?"

"I believe that's what I just said. And when I asked what had been happening in your life I could see she was hiding something and it didn't take me long to worm it out of her, I'm actually an expert at gathering intel from reluctant sources."

"But she hasn't told anyone else?"

"Nah, it took her brother coming back to life to reveal it to one person, so I'm sure you're safe."

"Great so now three people know, even though we waned no one in on it."

"I bet she was the one who suggested it be kept a secret."

"What makes you think that?"

"Oh please, I've seen you, and I've seen Carol Danvers, I'm surprised you haven't been shouting about your relationship from the rooftops."

"Well thanks."

"I mean it's all wrong. You're the geeky side-kick, you don't get the girl."

"Hey!"

"The wingman who settles for the less attractive friend. Hey wait a second you said three people now know. Who's the third?"

"Well, there's you, Sue, and Krypto the Superdog."

"Wh- LOGAN? You told some short, old x-man before your best friend?"

"You were dead. And best friend?"

"Yeah, like you have another friend." Johnny taunted. Spider-man just gave a noncommittal shrug. "Go on then, who is your best friend?"

"Erm… Carol?" Peter said with a smirk.

"No. NO! You don't do that to me, webs. What happened to the bro who used to mug attractive women so I could swoop in and be the hero and get a phone number."

"We've never done that."

"We should, I came up with it while I was dead, it's great don't you think?"

"It wouldn't work, I'm popular-ish now."

"Yeah, and Carol's into you for your looks."

"At least I have something else to offer."

"Yeah, no money and a crappy apartment."

"At least my head isn't too big to fit between a woman's legs."

"When you look like this." Johnny gestured to himself. "You don't need it to."

"Look like what? The poster boy for Nazi youth?"

"No, like a girl's wet dream."

"Yeah, girls in Antarctica maybe. But that has nothing to do with your loo..."

Peter was cut off by a loud horn and both heroes turned to see a large boat that was perilously close to shore.

"Looks like people are in danger, what say we postpone this chat?" Johnny commented lackadaisically.

"Way ahead of you, flame-brain." Spider-man said as he jumped off the statue of liberty, needing only one web to allow for a landing on the boat. "Come on, guys, somebody's trying to sink your battleship and it won't be long before someone calls D4." Spider-man said as he webbed the crew and slung them over his back.

"Is that the Human Torch?" Sure enough Johnny was flying in front of the boat attempting to slow it down.

"You can ask for autographs later." Spider-man said as he leapt off the boat and brought them down to safety on land.

"Thank you."

"Not time for celebrations yet, there're still people on there." Spider-man said as he jumped back into the fray and went back to the boat.

"I don't understand; we were miles from shore." The Captain said, more to himself than anyone.

"Evidently not, now come on. I know they say a Captain goes down with his ship, but that's ridiculous if everyone can get to safety."

"Uh, webs."

"Not now, Johnny."

"No webs, he's right, they didn't reach the shore, the shore reached them."

"Wha…" Spidey turned to see the beach rise and form the shape of a smirking Flint Marko. "Sup, Sandy, still dating Danny? You guys are so cute."

* * *

Johnny and Pete were standing in front of a glass sculpture of Flint Marko.

"Sandman, you've been served. Yeah you thought Neil Gaiman wouldn't notice you slandering his work." Spidey said as he webbed a piece of paper to Flint Marko.

Johnny bent down to read it. "'Courtesy of your friendly neighbourhood Spider-man'. Jeez, Webs, you're so lame."

"You're just jealous you didn't think of it first. Anyway thanks for the assist." Pete said.

"Assist? I did everything."

"Well who kept all of the civilians safe and told you how to beat Sandman."

"Please, without me you might not have even won this fight."

"Yeah, because that's what all of the history books say."

By this point people were rushing up to them, congratulating and thanking both the heroes.

"See, told you people were coming 'round on the Spider-man."

"Please they're just here for me, you're just getting some of my reflected adulation. But come on, we're off."

"Don't want to announce your return theatrically?"

"With a win against the Sandman? Please, I fight better villains during breakfast, your rogues gallery is weak and I will not use be using one for my return." Johnny said as he flew away, though slowly enough for Spider-man to catch up. "Besides we didn't finish our conversation earlier. How is Carol?"

"Way too good for me."

Johnny scoffed. "Tell me something I don't know."

* * *

Spider-man landed down in his apartment and was overjoyed to find his girlfriend still there.

"How was it?"

"Just like old times!" Pete said enthusiastically. "We insulted each other, fought a super-villain and had a heart-to-heart."

"Did you tell him about us?" She asked worriedly.

"He already knew."

"Oh."

"Oh? You don't sound surprised. Oh my God she didn't work it out, you just told her." Spider-man said, as though this was an act of betrayal. "But why didn't you tell Jess or someone, isn't she your best friend?"

"She is. I just wanted to speak to someone outside of the Avengers. And Sue knows what it takes to make a superhero relationship work, and she's not likely to gossip about it."

"Can't wait to tell Jess you said that."

"You do and you'll wake up vapourised." Carol threatened.

"So did Sue have good advice?" Peter said, changing the subject.

"Yeah, she said to wait before going all the way."

"Oops."

"Yeah, but there was other stuff too. It helps that she's married to a scientist."

"I'm no Reed Richards."

"If you applied yourself you could be."

Peter scoffed and Captain Marvel was next to him in a flash, cupping his face in her hands gently.

"Peter you're one of the smartest people I know. I've seen your mind work in ways that Tony Stark or Reed Richards could only dream of."

Peter tried to look away, to the floor, the wall, anywhere but the penetrating eyes opposite him, but his girlfriend wasn't allowing it. He looked at her and saw she was being completely earnest and his heart swelled.

"I also wanted to talk to Sue because of how much I like you. I'm sorry I didn't tell you or anything. I really want this to work out Peter."

No words were coming out of Peter's mouth, he wanted to say so much to her but had no idea how to. So he kissed her, with more passion than he ever had before. He led her to the bedroom and they spent the most intense night of the relationship together, alone in the room. So wrapped up as they were with each other neither noticed when Carol's boot crushed a small gold robot with eight spindly legs.


	6. Best Man's Burden

"Does anyone know where Carol is, or Peter?" Jessica asked the assorted Avengers in the room.

"No, I gave them the day off." Captain America stated. "Why?"

"Well I got a text from Carol saying that they've finally said 'I love you' to each other and I need to talk to her about it. But if they're taking the day off that means they're probably… you know I don't even want to think about it."

"They said 'I love you'? Aww they're so cute." Squirrel girl said.

"Yeah, and I'm gonna have to wait until tomorrow to talk to her about it." Jess groaned.

"How long have they been going out now?" Bobbi asked.

"Well it's been 4 months since they announced it to everyone, 5 months since I found out and 6 since…" Jess turned and looked to the mutant in the room. "Logan!"

"No." Wolverine growled.

"Come on, I need to talk about this and you're the person whose known the longest."

"But I don't get involved in stuff like that."

"You must've. Come on I don't know anything about that first month, you have to tell me about it."

"Logan, d'you think they'll get married?" Bobbi asked.

"Don't care."

"Pete will probably make you best man, if you knew while they were sneaking around." Ben said.

"Don't care."

"During that first month where would they go on dates?" Jessica Jones asked.

"No idea."

"Did that drug bust on the boat happen while they were together?" Luke questioned.

Wolverine looked up at this with an expression on his face as if he was casting his mind to the past. "Can't remember."

"What advice did you give Spider-man that made him ask Carol out?" Jess asked.

"Advice?" He said angrily as though the secret was out, Jess wore a look of triumph. "Oh, that's right I said 'ask her out, don't ask her out, I don't care just quit bitching to me about it.'"

"That's not true." Jess moaned, though she couldn't say that with confidence. It did sound like the sort of thing he'd say and the sort of thing Spider-man would take confidence from.

"That's how I remember it." Logan huffed.

"So d'you know how many dates they've been on?"

"How many times have they done it?"

"Ooh, can you imagine what they're children will be like, with her looks and his brains and both of their powers."

"Hey Logan, you'll be best man and I'll be maid of honour!" Jess exclaimed. "How cool will that be… Logan?"

At this point Logan had started to get up out of his seat and walk away.

"Come on Logan, you haven't even told us if they've talked about their future."

Wolverine broke out into run and crashed through the window, not caring at this point that they were in one of the highest points in New York.

* * *

Spider-man and Captain Marvel were walking along the street, hand-in-hand talking and reminiscing.

"And then I said '_except the dignity of knowing I never carried a man-purse*_.'" Carol gave a small laugh. "which just…"

Spider-man stopped as his spider-sense warned him of impending danger. He pulled Carol backwards.

CRASH

Right in front of them a giant crater had formed, and inside was…

"Logan?" Carol asked, shocked.

"Next time, Bug," Wolverine croaked, his voice menacing despite his predicament, "don't involve me."

Jess chose that moment to land beside the crater.

"Jess what happened?" Peter asked.

"We were just asking him about you two and he jumped out the window!" Jess said, trying to appease herself of guilt. She didn't think her actions had warranted this.

"I told you when we started dating that Buster wouldn't tell anyone." Pete said in triumph.

"Yes, and I can't argue that you were right."

"But, you know, we've told people now, Gromit. I'm sure if you just told them what you knew they'd have left you alone."

That was the last thing Logan heard before he finally passed out.

* * *

That night it was just Jessica Drew and a healed Logan who were at the top of the Avengers tower.

"Now that it's just the two of us will you tell me the advice you gave Spider-man."

"Already did."

"I know that was horse-crap, Logan. Come on just tell me, I won't tell anyone else."

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"James Howlett, how long have we known each other?"

"No."

"But Carol doesn't know and Pete won't tell me."

"If Carol can't get it out of Pete what makes you think you can get it out of me?"

"Persistence."

"I'll jump out of the window again."

"You tried that and I'm still asking."

Logan growled and thought about the last thing the spider had said: 'I'm sure if you just told them what you knew they'd have left you alone.' Logan sighed.

"Fine, just… shut up." Jess's face had a mask of victory plastered to it. "He didn't think he was a good enough superhero for Carol. I told him that was stupid because he's one of the best ones I know. There. Happy?"

"That's. So. Sweet!" Jess squealed and hugged the Wolverine. "You're like a little teddy bear. Or like a proud uncle. That was so nice of you. Pete will definitely have to make you best man. I bet it felt really good too, acting like human being for a change..."

Thankfully the window to the Avengers tower had been smashed and the ground beneath it already cratered so Logan incurred no further property damage when he leapt from the building this time.

* * *

***From Superior Spider-Man ****#31**


	7. Lost?

"Pete!" Carol shouted as she shook the sleeping Spider-man. "Peter!"

"Wh- I'm up! Carol? Don't we miss enough slee…"

"Pete! Alice isn't in her crib!" Carol shouted frantically.

As though shocked with electricity Pete sat bolt upright in the bed.

"What where is she?"

"I don't know!" Carol was hysterical.

"Have you looked for her?"

"No, I was waking you up."

"Well she has to be in the apartment somewhere." Peter said as he got out of the bed and opened the wardrobe.

"What are you doing in the wardrobe?"

"Well there's no harm in looking!"

"The door was closed!" Carol fumed as she checked beneath the bed.

"We're talking about a 6 month old who can escape from a crib, she could be anywhere here." Peter countered as he checked the en-suite bathroom.

"Yeah but if she closed the door and was in the small dark closet we'd probably hear her crying." Carol shouted through the wall.

"Look, this argument's getting us nowhere," Spider-man said as he re-entered the bedroom. "We need to check the other rooms."

He rushed out of the bedroom and flung himself through the apartment.

"The front door is closed." Spider-man said as he rushed back into the living room. "And so are all the windows. Good."

"The windows, what the hell does it matter about the windows?" Carol raged. She knew she was perhaps behaving unfairly towards Pete, but Carol was terrified and any attempt to reign in her current emotions would be a fruitless endeavor.

"Well we may be dealing with a baby who can fly here."

"Fly? She's not even walking yet. It's much more likely she crawled out of her cage." Carol said as she upended tables and sofas in desperate attempts.

"Crawl? How would she crawl out of… oh right, we both have powers." Pete said as he opened every single cabinet and drawer in the house.

"Maybe she didn't get any of our powers and she's just invisible."

Both of them paused in their search and let the sentence hang in the air for a moment.

"I'll go check." Captain Marvel said and rushed back to the bedroom.

"I'll look in my lab." Spidey shouted to her.

"Jesus, I forgot your lab! We should've checked that first! The amount of dangerous crap you have in there. She's not invisible! Or at least she's not invisible and in her crib!" Carol shouted.

It appeared that Pete couldn't hear her from the lab. It must've been the case because if there was one thing Carol knew about Peter Parker it was that he always had a response. Carol was virtually crashing through the living room and kitchen as she knocked over things and moved everything from its original position.

"Come on, Allie. I know yesterday mummy asked you to stop crying but mummy was a fool. It would really be helpful if you could start crying now. Or make any sort of sound. Please, baby, let mummy know where you're hiding."

"She's not in the lab." Peter said as he rushed back into the room. "I checked in every crevice."

"Well where is she then."

"Well we have to consider the possibility that she didn't 'escape' her crib."

"What are you saying Pete?"

"You know we both have a lot of enemies…"

"Pete!"

"It's a possibility, Carol. As much as I hate to say…"

"We still haven't checked everywhere." As she upended more furniture that had already been moved that night.

"I'm gonna call Tony."

"What?"

"If this is an incident involving superpowers he'll probably be able to track where she's gone."

"OK."

Pete rushed over to the landline and began to dial frantically.

"Pete, It's three in the morning." Tony's voice sounded through the phone.

"Sorry, Tony, this is urgent. It's Al…"

Peter stopped as he felt his head become doused in liquid. He looked up and sure enough, there was little Alice Parker-Danvers crawling along the ceiling, the last vestiges of her spit-up dribbling down from her upside-down mouth; most of it, though, was covering Pete's hair. From across the room Carol paused as she absorbed the scene, before erupting in gales of laughter. Alice, for her part, finally broke out in tears. Her wailing was a familiar sound for her parents, but for once it was welcome.

"Pete? You still there?"

"Yeah, sorry Tony, false alarm."

"False alarm? You can't wake me up at 3 only to say three seconds later that it's a false alarm!"

"Sorry Tone, it was Al. We couldn't find her, but she was just crawling along the ceiling."

"Is that a metaph...?"

"No."

"OK, well try not to do this again."

"Gotcha, I'll see you later today." Tony groaned before there was a click signaling he had hung up.

"Well, little lady." Pete said as he jumped onto the ceiling and gently plucked his daughter from it. Carol would have flown and got her were she not still recovering. And laughing, she was mostly laughing. "You gave us quite the fright. I don't know why you're crying. I should be crying. I thought my daughter had been kidnapped and then get thrown up on by that same devious little girl." Spider-man gently lowered himself down on his web, careful not to give the baby a fright.

Spider-man gently shook the baby in his arms, trying to ease her. Carol came over to them, still giggling. The three members of the Parker family retreated back to the bedroom. Peter cradled his child until she stopped crying and placed her gently back in the crib.

"I wish I'd had the video camera for that." Carol laughed.

"Just another episode in the Peter Parker Humilithon."

"That's a long series, could give Simpsons a run for its money."

"Mhmm. So I think we need to ask Sue and Reed for help."

"It's three in the morning."

"Right, in a couple of hours we'll ask Sue and Reed for help."

"But you were the one who said we could do this on our own."

"We can, but there's no reason not to receive help when it's offered."

"No, you were right, we should do this by ourselves."

"Why, though? To prove we can?"

"No…"

The argument was interrupted by a loud crack from the direction of the crib. The parents turned to see their daughter's hand glowing yellow. Opposite her was a massive hole in the crib.

"OK, so she has powers from each of us." Carol said as their daughter giggled. "But she gets her sense of humour from you."

"That's great!" Pete exclaimed, Carol said nothing but looked at Pete. "What? Is that not great?" Carol again chose not to answer.

"OK, I'm gonna stay up and watch over her and I'll call the Richards in the morning." Carol conceded.

"Don't worry, I'll stay up, you can sleep, I'll watch her."

"No, you have other things to do."

"Like what?"

"Shower."

* * *

Spider-man clung to the bottom of the helicopter waiting for the moment to leap. He could finally see the island, but with few places to web he needed to time the jump right. He wasn't used to jumping from helicopters though. With so little experience it would be impossible to time it perfectly, thankfully there was a large margin of error with this, given the big landing platform. He was just about to leap when he felt the helicopter dip. That was just his luck, Pete thought, the one helicopter going to the same place as him. That meant he had a pretty good estimate as to what kind of helicopter this was and who owned it. If it was landing that meant he had to get away from it as soon as possible, but he couldn't just let go as he had intended. He needed to improvise, and fast. Perfect.

He clung to the landing skid and swung as far as possible away from the helicopter, hoping no one had seen him. Then, redirecting himself in mid-air he fired a web to the underside of it. He swung beneath the helicopter and launched himself as far as possible, this time in the direction he was headed. He made himself one of his webbing parachutes and slowly floated towards the island. He looked at the helicopter; neither person inside appeared to have noticed him. He only knew this based on the fact both were facing forward, surely if they'd noticed at least one would be looking in his direction. His trajectory was some way from where he'd originally intended, but it was more important that he got away from the helicopter at this point so he looked to the ground.

There were four guards atop the roof, one on each side. The roof was very wide so they were spaced far apart. Unfortunately he wasn't going to be able to land on the part closest to the entrance. That meant having to probably take out all of the guards. Peter Parker's mind whirred trying to come up with a plan. How did Steve Rodgers manage to be in positions like this and come up with a plan? Why couldn't he? He was coming close to landing now and saw one of the guards look up at him and eyes widen in shock.

"Mmm… mmm." The guard spoke into his transceiver, unable to enunciate with the webbing covering his mouth.

Spider-man dropped from his makeshift parachute and landed silently before launching into the guard and holding him down.

"Mmm… mmm!" The guard struggled, body shaking and eyes wide.

Spider-man knocked the guard out before placing his wrist over the guard's mouth. A few drops of a green liquid fell, dissolving the web. There could be no evidence. He snatched the transceiver from the gloved hand of the guard.

"Agent? Respond!" Came a voice from the device in Spider-man's hand.

"Mayday, there are six figures attacking the east section. Send as many agents down here as poss- aarrghh!" Pete shouted down the walkie-talkie before crushing it and throwing it at the fallen guard.

Pete took one last look at the fallen soldier before wrenching his head away and running to the other side of the building, all the while trying to get the image of the S.H.I.E.L.D insignia emblazoned on the guard's armor out of his head.

Pete could see the three other guards converging on his position, but he kept running forward with great speed.

"Freeze or we will subdue you with force!"

Peter said nothing but launched himself into a fly-kick, taking out one of the guards instantly. The other two began shooting, but it was a simple matter avoiding the fire. He jumped up high into the air, judging the jump perfectly to come down on the second guard with a drop kick. Rolling away immediately to avoid the last guard's bullets, Spider-man went immediately from a crouched position and the end of the roll to flinging himself at the last guard, his fist crashing heavily into the guard's jaw. He had to restrain himself from giving a witty remark as he snatched another communicating device from this guard.

"There were 3 on the roof but they fled to the north quadrant." Spidey said into the device as he ran to the southern part of the island. "Wait, there are more on the roof, our guns are doing nothing, we need help here!" He said as he reached the edge of the building facing south. He threw the transceiver back in the direction he came, hoping it would land roughly near the three downed guards.

Spidey hopped off the wall and started crawling along the wall of the building that faced south, heading west, towards the entrance. He reached the corner and subtly stuck his head round to see a wave of guards leaving the building. Lights were flooding the area, rendering the black costume he was wearing useless. Many of the guards were running to the opposite side of the building while others were using jetpacks to fly up to the roof. Unfortunately many were remaining outside the only entrance.

"OK that's enough, close the gate. And make sure the chopper is covered."

Spider-man sighed; he had been hoping to avoid this. He took his backpack off and unzipped it. He pulled out two pumpkin bombs and a grappling hook with a rope. He launched the two bombs, one beneath and one above the helicopter then used all of his strength to get the grappling hook sunk into the corner of the building. The pumpkin bombs exploded and the helicopter veered away. The chopper was protected enough to keep everyone inside safe, but the guards were all drawn to the attack. Spider-man could hear the creaking of the gate and assumed it was almost closed.

He took two steps back before running and leaping, keeping tight hold of the rope. He made his trajectory low and slid along the ground, the rope and hook pulling him back towards the building and he slid under the sliding metal door. He heard a loud clang behind him, signaling the thick door had closed. He jumped straight up to the ceiling and ran, upside-down, to his destination.

He crossed many guards who had their guns out, ready to shoot, thankfully none of them considered looking to the ceiling. He relied on his spider-sense to avoid security cameras, with no idea if it would work, but he didn't have time to carefully tiptoe around them. It took a long time to reach the room he wanted, it made sense that it would be deep into the building. When he did he withdrew a can of spray paint from his bag and covered the cameras in the room, afraid to use his webs for this. He then wasted no time in dropping down and swiftly taking out the one guard left in the room. He ran to the cell he was looking for. It was protected by some kind of energy force field, but no problem. He punched in the 7-digit code on the device to the side and the lights instantly blinked out. Immediately spider-man webbed the occupant of the room, trapping him against the wall.

"Hello, Norman." Spider-man all but spat.

"Peter, great to see you, so have you finally come round on my offer to team up, it's still on the table you know." The Green Goblin said jovially, as if greeting an old friend.

"You know I have a child now, 6 months old."

"With the wonderful Captain Marvel, no? Another blonde, but this time with superpowers, did I have something to do with that?"

"This morning we couldn't find her, I thought she'd been kidnapped, but she had just used her powers and was crawling along the ceiling."

"Ooh, she has powers, does she have all of yours and her mothers? Or maybe just yours? Or perhaps some of yours and some of her mums? I would love to study her." Norman said, a feral grin splitting his face.

"I've always been confronted with the question of whether I'd die for someone."

"You're answer to that question is your greatest weakness."

"I always thought I had the answer for whether or not I'd kill for someone."

"Another weakness of yours."

"But today I had to change my answer. It had been a resounding no, never. But now there's a new answer, her name is Alice." Spiderman said before taking Norman Osborn's face in his hands.

"What? NO!" Spider-man twisted his hands, breaking the neck of his greatest foe.

"I can't have someone like you knowing my identity, I'm sorry."

Spiderman leapt back from the wall and surveyed his work with great depression. He withdrew a vial of green liquid from his wrist threw the contents all over the web still holding up Norman Osborn. His limp body fell from the wall and landed on the ground with a _thud_.

Spider-man gave one last look to his arch nemesis before turning to leave. But there, standing on the edge of the cell was Daredevil.

"Using the walkie-talkie's to divert the guards, an oldie for a reason. The pumpkin bombs, to come after the Green Goblin, were brilliant. But I think my favourite part was Spider-man using a grappling hook, truly inspired." Matt said, offering a slow clap. "And you managed to keep your mouth shut, no one will believe Peter Parker was here."

"I screwed up though, I webbed one of the guards on the roof before knocking him out. Also had a web parachute that I think drifted to the ocean without me but I can't be sure. Were you on the helicopter?"

"Yes, so I knew you were here as soon as you webbed yourself to the underside. I got out before you bombed us, needed to get through the gate after all."

"And you didn't announce yourself because you wanted to see – or know – what I was doing."

"Yep, I heard everything."

"Typical Spider luck isn't it. For you, of all heroes, to be here tonight… Look, Matt, I don't want to fight you."

Nothing could have surprised Peter more than for Daredevil to start laughing.

"Fight you? I told you I heard everything."

"So…"

"So it's about time. And don't worry about my presence, there's still no eyewitnesses." Matt smirked.

"It's not about time. Heroes shouldn't kill. It's not our right to decide the life or death of people. He was already in prison and defenseless. But that doesn't even matter. It's wrong. And I hate myself."

"As far as everyone but the two of us is concerned, as far as your daughter is concerned, Spider-man did not kill Norman Osborn. I'll cover the mistakes. Now go."

"Matt… thanks, I…"

"Go!"

Spider-man took one last look at the limp form of his greatest enemy before turning, jumping to the ceiling and running. It was just in time as well because guards came rushing into the room.

"Daredevil! We heard that Osborn's cell had been breached. Wait… is he dead?"

"I followed the person here, I don't know who, I didn't recognize their scent or anything about them. By the time I got here this was all I found, I've been scouring the cell, but I can't find anything that would lead me to the perpetrator."

"What could've done that?"

Spider-man bowed his head as he ran from the scene. He was ashamed of himself for making Matt an accomplice; he was ashamed about everything he'd done tonight.

* * *

"Did you do…" Carol began as her husband entered their apartment. She trailed off because of his distraught face, well not just his face but his whole body was sagging with the weight of what he'd just done. It was answer enough.

"I'm going to sleep on the couch tonight." Pete said, his voice hollow.

"What? Don't do that, stay here."

"No, I don't deserve to sleep in the same room as you two tonight." Pete lent down and kissed his wife chastely. "Love you."

"I love you too. I hope this is just for tonight." Carol said soothingly.

"I don't know." Pete said as he walked over to the new crib, designed to specification by the smartest man in the world. Pete lifted his daughter out of it and held her in his arms. "I love you. So much. You don't know, could never know, just how much. I'd do anything, _anything_, for you."

* * *

**Hey guys, thanks for reading so far. I left my comfort zone with this chapter, there's much less dialogue than I'm comfortable with and it's way too serious. Also I jumped forward in time quite far for this one and I'm anxious to know how you guys will respond. I think my next update will be their first date. After that I'm going to try to shift the focus away from Spider-man and onto Captain Marvel, I don't feel she's gotten enough attention from me. Also I feel I should apologise for describing Carol as hysterical. I usually hate using that word (it has this connotation that the hysteria is unwarranted and I hate that) but I feel in the case of describing someone whose baby is missing it's justified. So please leave a review and let me know what you think about this chapter, and the story so far. That's Vivacious Valerianfelicis signing out... for now. **


	8. A Reservation for Crime

Carol looked at her clock and hummed. She should have been expecting he would be late, but she had hoped that for their first date he might make a concerted effort to be punctual. But no, he was out there probably saving somebody's life, so how could she possibly be mad?

Quite easily, in fact, as she saw the clock turn to quarter past 7, signaling she had been waiting for 15 minutes. She stood up and walked to her phone, but as she picked it up a knock sounded at the door. Great, she could rage to his face, which would be eminently more satisfying. She opened the door and was greeted by a disheveled looking Peter Parker. He was wearing a suit, but the trousers had been put on hastily, the end of the belt could be seen hanging from them. His shirt was incredibly creased and hanging lopsidedly, not tucked in. The blazer was actually very nice. Not all of the buttons had been done up and the top of his spider-man shirt was visible at the collar; he'd clearly come from the roof. He pulled a massive and beautiful bouquet of flowers from behind his back and offered them to Carol.

"I'm so, so sorry for being late." Pete started.

"Did you stop a florist being robbed or something?"

"I did actually, and I don't usually accept a reward, but I couldn't resist this time."

"Oh, I was joking." Carol said.

"I've always said my life was a joke, this just confirms it."

"Does that make me the set-up, or the punch line?"

"I don't know, I don't write the jokes, I'm just the victim."

"Mhmm. Well come in, I'll put the flowers in some water." She fastened the top button on his shirt; Peter blushed scarlet at her proximity. "How you've managed to keep your identity a secret is beyond me."

Peter followed her inside at a sedate pace and looked around at her place, one thing caught his eye above all else.

"Oh my God, you're…" He trailed off nervously.

"Yes?" Carol demanded.

"Y…you look stunning." Pete stuttered truthfully.

And indeed she did. She was wearing a thin, navy blue, woolen tunic that clung to her skin and accentuated her figure. A thin red sash was there, tied into a pleasant bow, in place of a belt, but it hung quite loosely on her hips. Her long, smooth and shapely legs were bare, for the tunic finished at the midpoint between knees and waist, except for the boots she was wearing that had heels that she didn't need. Her blonde hair cascaded in waves around her face and down her back, the colour complimenting the dress perfectly. She blushed at Pete's words, though she had expected them at some point tonight they were said so genuinely.

"Thank you," she said as she filled an empty vase with water. "I was ready at five past, you see I had wanted to make you wait – Pete, you're drooling – and have this reveal. But you ruined that." She placed the flowers in the vase and placed it on the counter before turning back to Pete, her face filled with an accusatory expression.

"You have no idea how sorry I am." Pete chattered. "If you hadn't just turned my brain to mush I'd try and think of something to say that…"

Pete stopped as Carol gently placed a solitary finger on his lips. Peter briefly entertained the notion that he might be in love. His whole life he just needed a woman who could shut him up with the tiniest of actions. Or maybe this was just the sexiest thing that had ever been done to him, and he once dated Felicia Hardy. Carol's eyes danced with amusement as she absorbed the look on her date's face.

"I think I can forgive you for being late." She said with a smirk and removed her finger from Peter's lips. "So tell me, where is this table you've reserved for us?"

"Well, uh, y'see," Carol's smile morphed into a frown, "I did reserve a table," Pete assured her, "but, the thing is, I saw Daredevil earlier and he told me about this big drug deal going down at some warehouse tonight that he can't attend and he asked me if I'd go."

"And did you tell him you had plans?"

"Of course, and he said he'd call if he found someone else to do it. I went to everyone as well asking them to cover for me but no one agreed."

"Did you tell them you were going on a date with the most beautiful woman you've ever met?"

"Well that's none of their business, but I did stress that tonight was really important. But no one else is going to do it and apparently this thing is a big deal to the Kingpin and, well, I completely understand if you don't want to but I thought maybe you'd want to break this thing up together."

"Hmm." Carol frowned as she thought about it. She did enjoy watching Spider-man fight crime, and fighting it herself. But she was hoping for a more romantic evening. She didn't want to share this date with a bunch of criminals.

"I mean we could reschedule or…"

"Nothing will stop you from going to this warehouse, will it?"

"Well I'm sure if you wanted you could easily overpower me." Pete joked.

"Tell me why."

"Well if this is important to the Kingpin…"

"No, the other day I asked you why you did it. Why you sacrifice your own life to prevent crime that you're not even thanked for and that police could deal with. You didn't give me a serious answer, which is fine, I understand if it's personal, but I'd like to know why you do it if it's going to ruin our evening."

Peter ran his hands through his hair and sighed. "OK, but maybe we should sit down, it's a long story."

Carol gestured to her sofa, upon which Peter sat, and she took the chair opposite. Pete leaned forward with his elbows touching his knees and looked Carol in the eyes.

"I guess it started with a spider bite…"

…

"…and it was the same robber I let go on the set of the show. It was my fault my uncle died. I could have prevented it with ease. I thought about his words 'with great power comes great responsibility' and realised, as with most things, he was right. I have a power and a responsibility to use that power to make the world a better place, whenever and wherever I can. I never look the other way… not again."

Pete's position had morphed to him being draped across Carol's sofa, head resting on one armrest while his feet hung from the other. Carol was sitting in the chair opposite reclining back as she absorbed the story. It was truly remarkable, and explained so much.

"And how did that make you feel?" Carol asked in a professional voice.

"Uh, what? I just told you."

"Right, well I think we've made excellent progress today, Peter, but unfortunately your hour is up."

Peter looked to Carol in confusion, then to his position on the couch and chuckled.

"You know I don't think you're supposed to make therapy jokes to those who are actually in dire need of it." Peter laughed.

"Well when telling it to them straight doesn't work you have to come up with alternatives."

"Of course." Peter conceded. "So… this drug deal?"

"Yes, I'll come. I would've probably come even if your story hadn't broken my heart. But it did and now I have no choice in the matter."

Peter smiled and jumped into a standing position, seemingly ready for anything.

"After all it's not like I can resolve all this guilt you carry on the first date." Carol continued as she also stood up. "Oh, and you might want to lose the suit." She added as her dress morphed into the Captain Marvel uniform.

* * *

Spider-man jumped from Carol's back and landed on the wall of the warehouse and peaked in the window. Carol had suggested she fly them there as they were likely running late and they didn't want to miss the crime entirely. The warehouse was perched on the edge of the island of Manhattan allowing boats to enter. Indeed the criminals inside were transporting contraband from a speedboat to a van.

"So how should we do this? You from below and me from up here, or take different sides, or just go in together and…"

Spider-man gave three condescending tuts. "Oh Carol. So Naïve. So inexperienced in fighting the seedy underbelly of New York."

Carol flashed an annoyed look to Spider-man.

"OK, listen up to professor spidey. When dealing with crimes where there is no immediate threat to innocent civilians you always listen to them for a bit first." Spider-man said as he creaked a window open. "The first reason you do this is to find out more about the crime and who may be responsible."

"Hurry up guys. When I spoke to the Kingpin I got the feeling he was half expecting superhero intervention." One of the crooks below said.

Carol was glad Peter was wearing his mask, as she really didn't want to see his superior look.

"Don't you just love it when someone says something to prove your point right after you've made it?"

"I thought you already knew this was Kingpin's?"

"Well you can't always trust mission intel. But also now we know this is a trap, Matt's going to be receiving an angry voicemail tonight."

"A trap?"

"Most likely, you wait here until I've sprung it." Spider-man said but made no move to enter.

"Well, what are you waiting for?"

"There are other things you need to listen out for."

"Like what?" Carol asked, genuinely intrigued.

"Like the perfect time to make your entrance." Carol groaned internally.

"I don't know!" Came a frustrated voice from below. "Probably Daredevil or Spider-man."

Carol could imagine the smirk on Peter's face. "You know, I kinda like these guys. Also maybe you should go phone the police." Spidey said as he climbed through the window.

"I hope it's not Spider-man…"

"When will you villains learn?" Spider-man said as he jumped down to the warehouse floor, the criminals all made startled noises. "If you say my name three times while doing something illegal." He webbed the closest crook and pulled him into a waiting fist. "I appear. It's one of my powers." Spider-man jumped as the criminals drew guns and began shooting.

"We only said it twice, genius."

Before spider-man could retort the warehouse door opened and in ran another crook. He took one look at the scene inside and shouted: "Spider-man!"

Peter grinned. "You know you guys have started to grow on me in the short time we've known each other." He said as he webbed away the guns of some of the crooks, dashing them into the water. "It's almost a shame to have to put you behind bars."

Peter's spider-sense suddenly blared, more so than it should for these average criminals, and he saw a pumpkin bomb fly into the warehouse, smashing a window in the process. The explosion sent him flying into the wall, to which he clung, as the Hobgoblin flew in through another window, shattering that in the process as well.

"Well, well, well. I was told to expect Daredevil but snagging the Spider is even more satisfying."

"Oh no!" Spider-man exclaimed in fake terror. "Was this a trap?"

"Whether you knew it or not won't change the outcome, spider-man!"

At this the Hobgoblin began laughing maniacally. HAHAHAHAHA. The sound forced Peter to let go of the wall and collapse to his knees, covering his ears but to no avail.

Suddenly captain Marvel was in front of the Hobgoblin.

"Wow, spider-man, I didn't think anyone laughed at your jokes." She said before punching the goblin with tremendous force, sending him flying out into the river, likely out cold. She then brought her fist down on the glider, shattering it in two. "Oops, I didn't mean to hit him that hard, but I was absorbing all of that sound and didn't realize I'd power up that much."

Peter had to amend his earlier thoughts. That was the sexiest thing he'd ever seen. And once again he briefly entertained the notion he might be in love.

"You listened to me!" Spider-man said, as though he'd never been complimented more in his life. "You actually waited to make your entrance and did so with aplomb, and with a witty remark as well." He wiped a fake tear from his eye as he webbed up the criminals attempting to escape, realizing at this point they were hopelessly outmatched. "It's so rewarding as a teacher when a student takes on board your lessons."

Carol didn't respond but flew into the river to retrieve the Hobgoblin. She didn't need spider-man to tell her to never leave the body of a super-villain with the assumption that they're dead. Also she didn't want to kill him, just knock him out. She threw his body beside the rest of the crooks and Spider-man applied some extra webbing. He then approached the goblin and wrenched the mask from his face. What he saw shocked and saddened him.

"Phil Urich."

"You know him?"

"Yeah, he works at frontline, or the bugle, whatever it's called now. He must have been doing this to provide stories for Norah."

"A great way to a girl's heart." Carol said sarcastically.

"Well it worked, she broke up with her boyfriend and started dating him."

"Ouch."

"Yeah, and I doubt Rand will take her back."

"You know a lot about these people."

"I worked with them. And lived with Rand for a while."

"So you're pretty close to all this?"

"When it comes to Goblins I always am." Peter sighed.

"Come on, let's go, there's no use dwelling on this." Carol said as she grabbed Pete's hand and flew him to the roof of the nearby building.

It was snowing. It must have started while they were in the warehouse. Or perhaps it had been snowing for a while and Peter hadn't noticed. He was surprised he could notice now. Every conversation he'd ever had with Phil Urich was currently rattling around inside his brain.

Carol walked up to him and lifted his mask to his nose. Before Peter could even utter a questioning sound her lips were on his. Suddenly his interior monologue about the events surrounding Phil Urich and the Goblin with the lunatic laugh was halted. Actually not halted, just thrown from his mind altogether.

"Carol?" He asked after their lips parted.

"Maybe it's the view of the river from here. Maybe it's the snow. Or maybe it's that tonight was a whole lot of fun but I just really wanted to do that." Carol smiled. Peter smiled too.

"I don't want tonight to end." Peter said.

"Neither do I. D'you think if I flew we could still make the reservation, I mean we'd be late but it might not matter?"

"I doubt it. Reservation's at Rao's."

"Holy crap how did you manage that?"

"I went there as Spider-man and asked if I could get a table for the designer of my web-shooters, and when that didn't work I asked one of our mutual friends."

"Of course. Tony or Steve?" Carol questioned.

"Tony, it's more believable that I work for Stark than S.H.I.E.L.D."

"Oh, the irony."

"Welcome to my life."

"Well I wouldn't mind just going round doing what you'd normally do on a night like this. This was fun after all." She gestured to the warehouse.

Spider-man's head lifted and Carol could imagine light filling Pete's eyes.

"I have the perfect idea."

* * *

Daredevil reached the warehouse and looked at the criminals all webbed up.

"Wow. I didn't even tell him this was a trap. Can't believe he did it without me. I mean who'd've thought he'd get here early, he have a lift or something?" Matt spoke to himself. "I should do something to make it up for him." He noticed something missing from the scene before him and hastily went to rectify it.

Matt went and bought a pen and paper from the closest shop and scribbled a note with the line 'courtesy of your friendly neighbourhood spider-man' and left it on the webbing.

* * *

"Wait here until I introduce you." Pete instructed, positioning her just to the side of the door.

Peter opened it slowly and was greeted by a happy chorus of: "Spider-man!"

Carol noted that none of the voices sounded surprised at his sudden visit.

"Hey, kids!" He greeted enthusiastically. "I brought a guest with me today, as well."

"Is it Captain America again?" Came a voice that Carol guessed belong to a boy of around 10. Of course Steve had come, she thought.

"No." Some of the boys groaned at this information. "But you're on the right track. Introducing Captain… Marvel!" He gestured dramatically to the door.

Carol stepped through and her heart tore at the sight in front of her. Around 10 beds filled the room, all occupied by children hooked up to various complicated machines. Obviously she had been expecting it, walking into the long-term children's ward at the hospital, but the knowledge did nothing to prepare her for the sight. Some of the girls squealed while a few of the boys groaned again.

"You brought a girl?" One of them asked.

"Shut up!" One of the girls retorted. "Mrs. Captain Marvel?" She said, now addressing Carol.

"Yes?" Carol responded politely.

"You're my absolute favouritest hero. I can't believe you're here."

"Well I'm… I'm honoured." Carol said, unsure about how to respond, she was overwhelmed.

"Are you and Spider-man in love?"

"Not yet, little one." Spidey responded, seeing Carol was getting flustered. "But you guys are part of my devious plan to get her to fall in love with me. So what do you say, are you up for convincing her?" Spider-man stage whispered, allowing all in the room to hear.

"Yes!" Many of the girls almost shouted in response.

"Spider-man, you're not supposed to say that in front of her." One of the older boys said, head almost resting on his palm.

"D'oh! Well why didn't you guys warn me?" Many of the children laughed.

"Spider-man! Will you make me another spider, the other one disappeared?" One of the boys asked him.

"I told you it would. And this webbing is expensive." He replied but at the look on the child's face he submitted. "Fine." He said, giving the response that everyone in the room knew would come. "Where do you want it?"

"Hmm, on the ceiling above me." the boy responded.

Peter detached a cartridge of his web from his belt and opened it up extracting a lot of the fluid and pulling it so that it stretched before molding it into the shape of a spider, never letting it touch the floor, lest it get stuck there. While he was doing that Carol shifted closer to the little girl who had claimed she was her favourite superhero.

"Does Spider-man come here often?" She asked.

"All the time." The girl replied happily. "You really should fall in love with him Mrs. Captain Marvel. Spider-man's really nice and funny."

"I just might." Carol said more to herself than anyone. "And please, you can call me Carol."

"That's like what spider-man said. 'Call me Peter'. But that's so boring."

"He told you his name?" Carol asked, quite surprised.

"Yeah, when we promised we wouldn't tell anyone else for the rest of our lives."

That sentence brought Carol close to tears.

"Hey, guys!" Spider-man said, once again addressing the whole room. "Do you want to hear about the crime me and Captain Marvel stopped earlier?"

The question brought a unanimous yes from the children in the room. Spider-man delved right into it. He told it animatedly, climbing all over the walls and feigning action. He exaggerated parts and made the story much more child friendly, omitting mention of drugs and such. The children gasped and laughed at various moments throughout his warped retelling. He tried to get Carol involved in the story-telling process as well but she was much less naturally gifted at this sort of thing. Still she put as much enthusiasm into it as she could and thought that she was probably better at it than Steve was, which was at least some consolation. She looked at spider-man, bouncing around the room, and the children laughing as he made a fool of himself and thought that of all the heroic things she'd encountered in her life this took the grand prize.

* * *

"You didn't have to take me home, you know. I'm not a normal girl." Carol said as they reached her home.

"It wasn't for your benefit." Peter replied.

"So, the children's ward. Do you do that often?" She asked, already aware of the answer but hoping for a little more.

"Yeah. Ever since the boy who collects spider-man." At Carol's questioning gaze he elaborated. "It was an article in the Daily Bugle. He was dying of leukemia and was perhaps my biggest fan. He had every article about me, and a special collection of Bugle retractions. Videotapes, spidey paraphernalia, you name it. The article urged me to grant his wish of meeting him so I did. Since then I've gone to visit dying children as much as I can. It feels so good, it's really very selfish of me."

"How often do you go?"

"Whenever I can. There's so many wards all over the city, I go whenever I can so that I see as many as I can regularly. I think Steve does that now as well, but he's a busier man than me. I was actually going to go there after our date but figured why not bring you along when the opportunity presented itsel…"

Peter was cut off as Carol's lips crashed onto his mouth, seemingly unaware or uncaring of the cloth between them. She reached up her hands to his face and pulled the mask up before desperately resuming the kiss. Peter responded in kind and they stood out of her door, passionately intertwined.

Carol pulled away and asked, "Would you like to come inside?"

The question shocked even her. It was so unlike her. She thought the three-date rule was malarkey so inviting him in on the first was completely out of character. Yet she didn't regret asking it.

Similarly everything in Pete's brain urged him to politely decline. But currently his heart was in control, was it his heart? It was certainly an organ other than his brain.

"I…" His heart wouldn't let his brain ruin this and he crushed his body back into hers, kissing her to shut himself up.

Peter pushed her up against her door as their hands began to roam over each others' bodies. She removed one hand and twisted the knob to open her door and the two practically collapsed inside. Pete used a trailing leg to slam the door shut behind them.


	9. Mistaken Doubts

_3:20pm_

Peter Parker entered to find many of his friends gathered. He tried to keep the embarrassment off of his face, but in all likeliness was failing miserably. He noticed an absence as he walked to the front of the room where the small groups of people were gathered.

"I thought I was late?" He said questioningly.

"You are." Came Logan's simple response.

Peter made an exaggerated show of looking around the large room and smirked.

"I don't think I am." Peter said seeming very pleased with himself.

"It's possible that the person you're looking for is here just not in this room." Tony suggested.

"Nope. I'm early." Pete said smugly as he placed his hands behind his head and sat down on the steps at the front of the room.

"Peter! You'll get your suit all wrinkled." Aunt May said as she jabbed him, forcing him to stand.

"You know if the last person doesn't show up, which I think might be likely, you technically would be late." Johnny Storm added from Peter's left.

Sue hit her brother. "Don't worry, Pete, they'll definitely show up." She reassured him.

"Of course she will." Peter said showing no hint of worry. The others around him didn't share his confidence however.

"You know we called her and there was no answer." Jess supplied.

"Isn't the Avengers protocol to track them down until you can be entirely sure they aren't in trouble?" Pete returned.

"No, that would be excessive for someone who is twenty minutes late, you should know this." Steve answered.

"Exactly, you guys are worried about nothing. She'll be here." Pete said with total confidence. "My guess is about…" Pete checked his watch, "4 minutes. I'll bet 20 bucks. Any takers?"

Everyone looked at Peter Parker as though he was insane. It was something Peter was accustomed to.

"You can bet that she won't turn up if you like, but that's as good as handing me your money."

* * *

_9:38am (earlier that day)_

Carol stirred slowly from her sleep. The warm heap beside her did not have their arms around her, which was highly unusual, so she edged a bit closer. She draped her arms around her partner.

"Morning Spider." She said sexily.

"Mmm." Moaned a feminine voice. More than feminine, it definitely belonged to a woman. "Finally realised female spiders are the way to go?"

Carol instantly removed her roaming hands. "Jess?"

"The one and only!" Jess responded. "Wait did you say Spider-woman or Jess. Doesn't matter, doesn't work either way." She added groggily.

"What are you doing in my bed?" Carol asked.

"Your bed?"

Carol sat up and looked around the room. "What am I doing in your apartment, in your bed?" Carol asked.

"Living out one of your fantasies?" Jess responded as she got out of bed.

Jess was completely naked and Carol was relieved when she looked down and found herself fully clothed. She could feel the clothes on her skin but seeing them with her eyes made her more comfortable. With the crippling headache she had woken up with she felt it best to check everything with at least two of her senses. Carol shot Jess a look that demanded explanation, Jess returned with a look as if to say Carol already knew.

"Oh right." Carol said slapping her forehead. "But what happened last night?"

"You don't remember?" Jess asked incredulously. "Oh my God. Not even remembering what you did to Pete." She shook her head in an exaggerated act of condescension.

"All I remember is a limo and champagne. Wait! What did I do to Pete?"

"Well if you really want to fill in the blanks of last night I have pictures." Jess said as she lifted the camera from her desk.

Carol was next to her instantly and made a grab for the camera. But Jess held it behind her while placing a hand on Carol preventing her from reaching it. For Captain Marvel it would be easy to take the camera by force, but with her naked best friend between them she was forced to relent.

"You can see the pictures, but I'll hold the camera." Jess said teasingly.

"Why?"

"Because I'm scared you'll destroy it."

Jess slowly sauntered over to her bed and sat down atop her ruffled mattress and pressed her back against wall. She patted the empty space on the bed next to her, gesturing for Carol to join her.

"Can you at least put on some clothes?" Carol asked.

"Why?"

Carol huffed in frustration before sitting beside her friend. She could have argued the case and probably convinced Jess to make herself decent, but she wanted to see those pictures now. She sat by her friend and Jess held the digital camera in front of her and flicked through a plethora of pictures quickly. Carol didn't need to take a long look at the images, as Jess went through them the memories of the previous night flooded back to her.

"Oh God." Carol groaned as she hung her head.

"Come on, there's still hundreds left, and we haven't even got to the good ones." Jess encouraged as she elbowed Carol.

"I don't need to see the rest." Carol said. After a pause she continued, "I should tell Pete, shouldn't I?"

"No you shouldn't." Jess responded.

Carol stood up and began to pace around the bedroom. "Of course I should. I have to tell him."

"That's ridiculous."

Carol didn't respond she just continued to pace. Eventually she seemed to make up her mind and she was suddenly wearing her Captain Marvel uniform again.

"I think I'm gonna go out."

"And do what? Find Pete? You're making a mistake Carol."

"No, I made the mistake last night. But I won't look for him before… you know… I just need to clear my head."

"What? By beating up people who you could take out with your pinky?"

"It's more fun than you'd think." Carol said before she opened the window.

"You really shouldn't worry about last night. I was just teasing you with the betraying Pete, it's really not that bad." Jess said.

"That's good, Pete might be understanding when I tell him then." Carol said as she flew out the window.

Jess rushed to the window. "You'll just embarrass yourself!" She shouted after her but there was no indication Captain Marvel had heard.

* * *

_11:48am_

The bank robbers loaded the van quickly. They had a few duffle bags filled with cash. The robbers were slightly slowed by the guns they were carrying, but those guns were necessary to get the money in the first place. The last robber came hurtling down the steps of the bank. He threw his bag to whoever was loading the trunk and ran to the passenger's seat of the van. He climbed in hastily.

"Step on it!"

The driver smashed his foot on the accelerator. Tyres could be heard screeching against the asphalt road.

"What's your problem? Get going!"

"You hear that? I'm trying!"

"Well then what's the hold…"

The argument inside the van was stopped as the robbers felt themselves be lifted up into the air.

"Great!" The robber in the passenger seat threw open his door and began firing his gun behind him.

Captain Marvel saw the bullets rush past her and realized this may be a problem if those bullets hit anyone. They were firing with reckless abandon, which to her was much more worrying than someone with precise, deadly aim. She brought the van crashing back to the road. Miraculously the gun clattered to the street. The robber tried to get out of the seat dazedly and got into the road, following his gun. Captain Marvel was by him in an instant and punched him away.

She looked into the van and saw the driver making an exit. She sent an energy pulse towards him but it only succeeded in blasting the driver's door off its hinges. The driver himself had managed to avoid it and was running in the opposite direction to the way the van was facing. She heard more doors clatter open and all of the robbers in the boot were running with the driver now. Captain Marvel loved it when they didn't split up; it made her job so much easier.

Sure enough the three remaining bank robbers were dealt with in a matter of seconds. But suddenly there was the deafening sound of a gunshot and a red and blue blur shouting "Get Down!"

The blur clattered into her, forcing her out of the way of the bullet. He landed on top of her, their faces inches apart. She looked to the person who had shot her. It was the robber she had punched earlier but now he was hanging upside down from a lamppost, his gun was harmlessly resting on the floor. Spider-man was holding the webbing that was attached to the hanging robber and stuck it on the ground beside them. Carol's head filled with the images of what she'd done the night before. She tried to mask the look of shame that must have been adorning her face.

"I saved your life!" Spider-man said happily.

"I'm bulletproof." Carol replied completely deadpan.

"Well I couldn't know that." Carol shot him an incredulous expression. "And I'm not bulletproof, does that not count for something?"

"Do you want something from me?" Carol asked.

"You're not supposed to say it like that." Spider-man stood up from his position atop Carol and threw his hands in the air. "It's supposed to go: 'Oh spider-man, you're so courageous, how can I ever repay you?'" He swooned.

"How can I repay you?" Carol asked, her voice mimicking the 40's twinge Steve Rodger's possessed, certainly not the damsel-in-distress voice spider-man had asked for.

"Marry me?"

Carol rolled her eyes. "That's not funny." She said.

"Says you. Are we still on for later?" Spider-man asked.

Carol crossed her arms and glared at Spider-man. It wasn't like her not to participate in jokes and she was radiating discomfort, not with the conversation just at Peter's presence.

"I'll take that as a yes." Pete said. "I'll see you later then. Oh and don't be late!" He shouted as he swung off.

Carol sighed. She hadn't meant to act that way towards Peter at all. She figured she must not have cleared her head properly yet. Peter always said that New York would always throw a superhero what they needed if they were sorting things out in their personal life. He said the city was amazing that way. If you did good deeds for the city, it would return the favour. She smiled as she thought of the time Peter first said that to her, but then frowned because she was smiling at a memory of Peter. Boy, New York had better throw something good her way, and it better do so before her appointment.

* * *

_2:54pm_

Recently Carol had started to feel in tune with the city as she flew around listening for crime. She looked at her watch; she was making perfect time, as usual. But as she flew past an alley she heard a scream followed by what was unmistakably a slap. She decided to listen; it wouldn't make her late, as this would only take a couple of seconds.

"This one's feisty." A gravelly male voice spoke. Hyena-like laughter followed these words as the group of men closed in on the woman. "That just makes it all the more fun." He withdrew a flip knife from an inside pocket and the leer on his face was vomit inducing.

The woman screamed and closed her eyes. She heard a shout of "Captain Marvel!" She opened her eyes as soon as she heard but had missed all of the action, the five men who had been surrounding her were scattered across the alley, some of their bodies contorted into painful looking positions. The victim ran from the scene, she only reflected after having run away that she perhaps should have thanked Captain Marvel for saving her.

Carol surveyed the mess she had wrought to this New York alley and sighed. She was about to fly off when a voice stopped her.

"Impressive."

Carol turned around to look at whom the voice had come from. He was leaning nonchalantly against the wall of the alley, his hands tucked into his pockets. He was wearing all black, apart from the large W that adorned his vest. Carol turned around and flew out of the alley without a word. Simon followed her. She flew away from her destination as she didn't want Simon following her there. Carol eventually relented and landed on a roof, Simon accompanied her.

"So? What do you want?" Carol said, anger seeping into her tone.

"I want to get back together." Simon said as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Carol laughed, but not in a fun way. "Of course you do. Of course you would say that today, of all days."

"That's not an answer." Simon said.

"You didn't ask me a question." Came Carol's response.

Simon tilted his head to the side a bit before smiling. "Would you go out with me?" He asked charmingly.

"No." Carol said with disgust.

"You're still going out with the scientist? Carol, you need to be with someone who can keep up with your powers. I mean even if it were Spider-man I'd still worry, but this guy? He's a scrawny dork."

"Peter Parker," Carol began, emphasizing his name to prove her partner had one, but Simon was unwilling to accept Carol's partner had a name, "is perfectly capable of 'keeping up with me,' and from what I heard he can keep up with you too."

"He told you about that?" Simon said as though this were despicable behavior.

"Yeah, something about ripping you in half and using you to power an experiment. He was really excited about the science he used to beat you in a fight."

"That's not the same though, it wasn't a real fight, he can't do that against Kang or Ultron or Mystique." Simon argued. "I know you Carol. You want to relive House of M and be the most loved hero in the world. Imagine, Wonder Man and Captain Marvel. I can help you attain that."

"I don't need that anymore. And you'd be surprised at what Peter can do." Carol muttered. "Anyway, you're too late."

"What are you getting married or something?" Simon asked but Carol didn't respond. "Oh my God, Carol. Look I wasn't going to bring this up but I don't trust this Parker guy. His relationship to spider-man is more complex than you think."

Carol raised a curious eyebrow. "How so?"

"I think he invented spider-man. Not just the webs, all of it, gave him his powers. It would make sense, he has no money despite being a scientific genius."

"Well at least you can say something nice about him."

"And he sells incriminating photos of him to the Bugle and spidey just lets him."

"They're not incriminating, Jameson just sees them that way."

"And I think he's got Spidey on a leash. You ever hear about George Stacy? His girlfriend's dad died in mysterious circumstances involving spider-man. Gwen Stacy herself cheated on Peter Parker and was pregnant with babies that aren't his. She dies and spider-man's involved again. I don't think it's spidey's fault, Peter's probably blackmailing him or something. I think he may have even used spider-man to kill his own uncle. He's bad new- ugh"

Carol had heard enough. She was lifting Simon by his throat. She was so angry. Someone talking about Peter in that way was unforgiveable. Especially about the things that had caused him so much pain.

"All this proves to me is that you know nothing, _nothing_, about Peter Parker." Carol seethed. "He's a better person than you could ever be and he makes me a better person as well." Finally Carol was filled with the resolve she needed. If more proof were needed about Peter being right this was it. New York had provided for her, she'd just be a little late. "My wedding is today and you're making me late. Don't follow me and don't try to get back together with me again or I'll sic my soon-to-be husband on you. And we both know he can wipe the floor with you now, despite his lack of powers."

Carol threw him and he slid along the roof. Carol flew away at tremendous speed. The only thought currently in her mind was that her tardiness wouldn't matter when the groom is even later; she smiled this time as she thought about Peter.

* * *

_3:17pm_

Carol ran along the street in the wedding dress designed for her by Cindy Moon. Their relationship had started off poorly, to describe it lightly, but they had become friends, and there was no better fashion designer Carol knew in the superhero community, however much Tony boasted about his designs. Carol smirked at her internal joke. As she approached the church she spotted a suited figure running to the church from the opposite direction and they reached the church at the same time.

"Sorry, I know you said not to be late." Carol quipped.

Peter looked down at himself. "I would say we're both right on ti…" Peter stopped talking as he looked back up at Carol and drank in her appearance.

Carol looked down at herself and gave a quick twirl and a smile to Peter. "You like?"

"Like? I… Remember our first date?"

"I'll never forget it." Carol responded.

"I thought, at multiple times that night, you were the sexiest thing I'd ever seen. Well I'm having to amend that right now."

"This is the sexiest thing you've ever seen?" Carol asked as she gestured to herself.

"Well… maybe sexy is the wrong word."

"What's the right one?"

"Beautiful? Angelic? Ravishing? Nope. There are no words in the English language." Pete said. "Heck I doubt they have words in Asgard to describe beauty beyond that of a Goddess…"

Carol placed a gentle finger over Peter's lips. He was struck dumb. Words completely failed him. Even his legs were turning to jelly. Thankfully his body and mind were saved as Carol's beautiful smile was replaced with a frown.

"Peter, I need to tell you something." Carol said seriously.

"What?" Peter asked worriedly.

"Well, last night, at my Bachelorette party there were male strippers and…"

Peter cut her off with laughter. "Is that why you were acting weird earlier?" He asked through his guffaws.

Carol gave an offended look and was about to continue but Pete got there first.

"I told you Johnny was helping plan my bachelor party with my best man. With him and Flash in charge I thought you would know the sort of party they'd throw. And Jess actually asked me about it as well. I thought we had an understanding about that."

"Oh. Well. Jess asked you about it? (I'm so going to kill her.) And… oh." Carol said, completely taken aback. "But still. I zapped a man's clothes off with my powers. I bet you were webbing them up so they weren't exposed." Carol said.

"Well, that's true I guess. But I only did it to annoy Johnny and Flash." Pete smiled. "It's OK. That's normal. Neither of us are into that sort of thing, it was for our friends."

"Johnny and Jess?"

"Precisely. Yesterday was for them because after today they're losing a bit of us, the bit of us that is dedicating ourselves to each other. Yesterday was about our friends because everyday from now on will be about the two of us." Pete smiled.

Carol smiled beatifically. "Yeah, I like that."

"Great, so you're not worried about anything else that I can help solve before we go deliver our vows?" Pete asked cheekily.

"Nope." Carol smiled.

"OK, so look inside and see how angry they all are with us."

Carol looked at Pete in confusion.

"Wait, you don't have x-ray vision?" Carol smiled as she shook her head. "Great! How are we supposed to check if the presents they got us are any goo…"

Peter stopped and Carol knew what had happened. Often he'd be in the middle of a joke and the wording would give him a brainwave, an idea. Much of the time it was just an idea for another joke, occasionally it gave him a way to defeat a supervillain or help the world with an experiment but it was usually about another joke.

"OK, after I go inside you should wait 5 minutes before coming inside and joining me."

"Erm… why?" Carol asked.

"So that I can make a bet with them for how long you'll take and get insurance for if their gifts are terrible."

"Pete you know they've gotten us great gifts."

"Well yeah, but it's fun anyway." Pete said enthusiastically.

Carol smiled and remembered the time she had bet on how late Peter would be, she nodded her head.

"OK!"

"Great!" Peter said before he made to walk in but Carol pulled his hand back.

"Pete, I love you."

"I love you, too."

Carol pulled him in for a passionate kiss. For a moment Peter forgot all about the wedding and the people waiting inside and the massive commitment he was about to make and about the free ride criminals would get for the next couple of hours; he forgot everything apart from him and Carol. Meanwhile Carol was berating herself for how much she had been worrying all day. Marrying Peter should have been the easiest thing she'd ever done in her life. At least now she wasn't suffering from even the slightest hint of doubt.


	10. Invisible Advice

**Welcome readers, virtuous valerianfelicis here bringing you another tale of wonder and romance. It's been a while since I last updated this story. I've actually been cycling across Europe for the past couple of months. In total I cycled about 3000 miles (at least that's our estimate) and only had my phone with me (that could have connected to the internet, obviously we had other crap with us too). You may have noticed I began another story yesterday, I wrote that on the notes app on my phone. I couldn't have updated in that time, believe it or not it's hard to find wi-fi when you're in the middle of the French countryside or cycling through the alps. Anyway I began this chapter before I left and finished it when I came back so I hope it doesn't feel too disjointed, I know I had another flashback scene but can't remember it for the life of me so this will have to do, I hope you enjoy.**

"Carol, what are you doing here?" Sue asked.

Carol landed beside Susan Storm on the roof of the Baxter building. She barely looked drained despite having spent the last minute avoiding the building's defence mechanisms.

"I was looking for Pete, is he here?" Carol responded.

"Unfortunately not." Susan said. "Reed and Ben took him on a trip to space because Peter seemed very eager to go. Is this urgent?"

"No." Carol sighed. "I guess it isn't."

Carol paused in indecision, wondering whether to ask Sue to just get Peter to call her when he's back or to stay and wait for him. If she stayed she'd have to explain herself to Sue, but maybe that was just what she needed.

"Is it alright if I wait for him and for us two to have a little talk?" She asked.

"Of course." Susan smiled. "Is there anything in particular?"

"Me and Pete started dating." Carol said as they walked inside.

"That's great, you two will make a fantastic couple."

"Thanks." Carol responded with a frown. "But we're not telling people yet, well except for Logan."

"Understandable, given our friends." Sue chuckled.

"Yeah. I'm not sure that's what Pete wants though." Carol sighed.

Sue led her into the kitchen and withdrew a carton of orange juice from the fridge and poured herself a glass. "Would you like a drink?"

"Erm, sure, orange juice is fine."

"Have you talked to Pete about this?"

"Well of course and he's going along with it without complaint but I'm not sure I just… Pete's so nice, I don't think he'd voice any doubts to me. He just says as long as I'm with you the rest doesn't matter."

"And he's so genuine when he says that that you can't force him to truthfully open up."

"Exactly!" Carol steamed.

"Well to be honest I think Pete may be right on this. If you make each other happy that's all that should matter in the early part of a relationship. Table the serious discussions for now and have fun."

"That's why I wanted it kept a secret."

"Because it's fun?"

"Well… yeah."

* * *

_~Flashback~_

Carol's mouth was assaulted as her new boyfriend's tongue danced around it. Pete explored every crevice of her mouth as his hand pulled her head closer while ruffling her hair. His other hand had already found her thigh and was slowly caressing it allowing his fingers to travel up and down lightly.

Carol growled and her hand glowed yellow. Pete pulled back.

"Err, 'Rol, erm. Well, I do love it when you blast my suit off. It's unbelievably… erm… yeah, I love it. But this is kinda the last one I have at the tower." Pete said. "It's actually just my last one, we've been doing this a lot." He added breathily.

"Oh sorry." Carol muttered.

"No, it's fine, I really enjoy it but…"

"I get it." Carol smiled.

Peter smiled back and put his hand at his waist to tug his shirt over his head. Carol placed her hand on top of his though, preventing his from lifting.

"Allow me." Carol said seductively.

Peter shivered as Carol's hands touched his bare skin beneath his shirt. She resumed the kiss as her hands climbed higher, slowly lifting his shirt. Once she had roamed enough she pulled back from the kiss slightly and yanked the annoying article of clothing off of Peter's body. She hummed appreciatively as she looked at Peter's naked torso.

The two lovers resumed the kiss, this time with even greater ferocity. The roaming hands suddenly became more frantic as the couple tried to memorise the other's every skin cell. Carol slipped her arms between her lover's arms and placed her hands on his hips. She leant back from the kiss and merely smiled in response to Peter's confused look. As quick as a flash Carol ducked to the ground, pulling the bottom half of Peter's clothes with her. Carol stood back up and smirked at Pete. He smirked back and kissed her again while stepping out from his trousers, now only wearing his spidey socks and gloves, which needed better names. His hands moved to Carol's uniform, and he gently began to lift.

"You know," Carol began, breaking off their kiss. "I'm much less fussy about my clothes."

Pete's eyes twinkled as though his optic nerves had lit up like Christmas decorations. He flipped backwards away from Carol and threw two arms out forward and covered Carol in web.

"Try to remain still." Pete said and yanked his webbing back completely ripping her clothes off in one.

Carol looked down at her naked self. "Nice trick."

As usual Peter had lost the ability to speak. Carol resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the regular occurrence, he really should be over the beautiful naked woman thing by now, however disbelieving his 15 year old self would have been. She walked over to him and resumed the make out session. It wasn't long before Pete regained his confidence and his hand slowly caressed her stomach, hand trailing ever lower until he found her…

Suddenly Peter pulled away. Carol groaned and was about to ask why but the answer beat her to it.

"Carol?" Came Jess's voice from outside.

_Thwip. Thwip. Thwip. Creak. Thunk._

Carol barely had time to respond as Spider-man webbed up all of the discarded clothes and exited through the window, though he managed to chuck one half of her torn uniform back at her and Carol quickly managed to morph it into her full uniform. They managed this just as Spider-woman walked in through the door.

"Jess!" Carol shouted. "You can't just walk in unexpectedly like that. What if I hadn't been decent?"

"Why would that matter?" Jess asked as she sauntered into the room.

She looked at Carol and noticed her hair was slightly untamed. Given Jess couldn't remember the last time her friend didn't look perfect it was a bit puzzling.

"What _were_ you doing in here?"

"Oh, erm, you know, just, like, erm, trying out new hairdos."

Jess ignored the blatant lie, it wasn't as though she really cared what Carol got up to and she had her own reasons for entering. Jess shrugged to Carol in a way that seemed to say, 'if you say so', as she surveyed the room.

"Is that spider-man's web on the window?" Jess asked loudly.

Carol's eyes went wide and as Jess walked to the window she racked her brain for an excuse. She was about to just shout stop, not wanting Jess to find a hanging, naked spider-man but was forestalled by a loud crash from outside clearly Spider-man had just crashed through the window below. They both rushed over to the window, but all they saw was a web leading from Carol's window to the smashed one of…

"WEBS WHAT THE-" They heard Logan shout from the floor below. He was cut off and one would assume Spider-man had webbed his mouth shut.

_Snikt._

"Apologies, Hong Kong Phooey. Really." They heard Pete say as he bounced around the room below. They heard the two crash into walls and shatter delicate objects. Carol imagined Logan trying to impale a naked spider-man on his claws. "But I really should get going."

Peter had obviously reached the door and swung it open and left. Now swinging around the halls of the Avengers.

"THIS BETTER NOT HAPPEN AGAIN!" Logan shouted after the spider.

"No promises, Dougal." Came the loud but quieting response.

Carol and Jess turned to each other before erupting in giggles.

"That Peter, he really does make things fun around here." Jess spoke between peels of laughter. Carol silently but wholeheartedly agreed with her words.

"So what were you here for?" Carol asked.

"I was actually looking for Pete. Logan pissed me off earlier and he's the only one who might help me get him back. Not to mention he'd be the best at it, he gets under Logan's skin like no one else. But looks like he already took care of it."

"Why were you looking for Pete in here?" Carol asked worriedly.

Jess gave an odd expression at Carol's tone but shrugged it off. "Well it's obviously not the first place I looked. Besides, it was the right place." She said and pointed to the webbing that still hung from Carol's windowsill.

"Well, he just said that he wanted to prank Wolverine and that he was by the window just beneath this room." Carol explained.

"Yeah, I assumed." Jess said as she looked at Carol weirdly again.

Carol tried desperately not to fidget with her hands. If Jess didn't know better she'd say Captain Marvel and Spider-man were hiding something. Suddenly Spider-woman began laughing again.

"What?" Carol asked.

"Nothing, I just… I just had the most ridiculous thought." Jess laughed thinking of Carol and Pete together. "Anyway," she said, calming down, "I'll leave you to it."

"OK." Carol muttered as Jess left. Once Jess closed the door Carol let out a relieved sigh.

Her door opened again and Peter walked in, now clothed in his spidey outfit again but for the mask. His expression was sheepish and he rubbed the back of his head. He locked the door this time, just in case.

"Perhaps we shouldn't do this in the tower." Peter said.

"What?" Carol asked and Peter looked up in shock. "Are you saying this wasn't fun?"

A sexy, feral grin broke out over Pete's face. He leapt towards Carol who squealed delightedly. Neither would do so aloud, but both inwardly thanked Tony profusely for soundproofing every room.

_~Flashback End~_

* * *

"But it's not just because it's fun." Carol continued. "I don't want to tell people in case it doesn't work out. But…"

"But?" Sue pressed.

"But we're moving so fast, it already feels really serious, especially as we've been seeing each other every day. I need your help. You know how to make a superhero couple work, I mean _really_ work."

"Of course I'll help. You really care about him don't you?"

"Yes and I really want this to work." Carol said almost desperately.

"Well when doing what we do emotions can run high. I'd say try not to let these emotions get the better of you and affect your behaviour. Have you slept together yet?"

The way Carol's cheeks turned pink was answer enough. "You don't understand. Did you know he visits terminal children in the hospital every other day?"

"Aww that's so Pete." Sue exclaimed.

"Isn't it?" Carol smiled. "And when the plans for our first date fell through he took me to visit them. The children love him, you know. And what's a girl supposed to do? Not invite him into her apartment? That's ridiculous, Sue!"

Susan chuckled at the helpless look adorning her friend's face. "I see Pete's been rubbing off on you."

"I'm being serious. I had no control over my actions." Carol fumed.

"Be that as it may," Sue said jokingly, "maybe you could ask him to take things slower from now on?"

Carol thought about this suggestion.

"If you think you can control yourself." Sue added with a snicker.

* * *

_~Flashback~_

Carol groggily woke up to see Peter putting on his spider-man outfit. She sat up not noticing, or caring, that the duvet fell from her body revealing her exposed chest, causing Peter to give a double take.

"Sorry, sunshine." Carol smiled at the nickname. "Didn't mean to wake you." Pete said as he leant down and kissed her forehead sending tingles throughout Carol's body.

This was the third night in a row that Peter had stayed over, the first being on their first date. The thought was enough to make Carol bury her face in her hands. It was just that the first night had been so good she didn't want to go to bed without Peter.

"That's OK, I should be up now anyway." Carol said.

"Well I'm glad you're awake because I wanted to ask you something."

"Go ahead." She said as she rubbed the tiredness from her eyes.

"Well these last few nights have been just… well there aren't words."

"That's a first for you isn't it?"

"Which just tells you how good it's been." Peter replied. "But I was hoping that tonight we could maybe have a proper date again."

"Of course, anything in mind?" Carol asked.

"Well I'm kinda not sure how we're going to do this yet, with my secret identity and everything. So I was hoping you wouldn't mind me cooking dinner for you in my apartment?"

"That sounds lovely."

"Great. Hey, you like sci-fi movies right?" Peter asked seemingly out of the blue.

"I like Star Wars." Carol said with trepidation.

"Well I was thinking, I have this projector and a final cut of Blade Runner and I thought you might want to watch it with me? It also has Harrison Ford in it."

"Is that your typical date-night movie?" Carol asked with a smile.

"Well no, but you're not a typical date."

Carol couldn't refute that. "Do you have to leave now?" She asked disappointedly, guessing at the answer.

"Yeah, I'm really sorry. Promised Mr. Modell I'd be in to peer-assess Grady's work. I mean it's not like Manhattan will be destroyed if I don't turn up, but I do love this job." Peter said.

"Don't worry about it. As long as we're on for later."

"Of course." Peter said as he pulled down his mask and made his way over to the window.

"Peter." Carol said with warning.

Peter turned round in confusion before realising. "Oh right." He smacked his forehead, made his way back to his lover and removed his mask before planting a pleasant kiss on her lips. He stood up with a goofy looking smile on his face before shaking himself down, putting the mask back on and jumping out the window. Carol watched him swing away in the distance with a smile.

Carol was shaken from her reverie by a loud knocking at the door. She put on her dressing gown hastily and opened the door to her apartment. The knocker had been her upstairs neighbour Mr. Cohen. Mr. Cohen was short and chubby so the immediate view Carol was given was of his large, round baldhead glistening in the morning sun. He was 48 and lived alone above Carol and would, seemingly without shame, take out his frustrations with the world on everyone around him.

"I'm really sorry to bring this up, Carol." Mr. Cohen began not sounding sorry at all. "I know you're young and what it's like to be young believe it or not. Regardless you need to have greater care for your neighbours. For the past three nights I have been kept up by you and what I assume is a new boyfriend."

Carol realised what Mr. Cohen was talking about and blushed in embarrassment.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't realise we were making so much noise." Carol stammered.

"Yes." Mr. Cohen was stumped for a moment at the apology, he was so used to confrontation and apologies were rare in his life. His ex-wife had said it was because he was so abrasive that his complaints were never delivered politely. Cohen maintained it was because all other people were awful. "Well it has been very, very loud. If I didn't know better I'd say you'd been doing it on the ceiling."

Carol blushed even further; she doubted she'd ever been more embarrassed.

"Carol!"

Both Carol and Mr. Cohen turned to see Carol's next-door neighbour Ms. Winters. At 67 and living alone one would expect her to be as down as Mr. Cohen. But instead the opposite was true, her personality truly captured youth and vigour. She was bubblier than Squirrel Girl and more active than Captain America.

"Hello, Margaret." Mr. Cohen said curtly. "We were just talking about all the noise Carol has been making at night."

"Great because that's exactly what I wanted to talk to Carol about." Carol buried her face in her hands.

"Yes, this is great, I hope it will really sink in with two complaints." Mr. Cohen said.

"Complaint?" Margaret asked derisively. "No. I want to congratulate her. He sounds like a great find." The 67 year old winked at Carol. "I remember this one guy, Hector, who did the same things to me. This was in the 60's of course and I only saw him briefly but I still remember him, he was dynamite and I can't believe I let him go. You hold on to this one Carol, from what it sounds like I think you've found your Hector."

While Mr. Cohen looked at Ms. Winters in shock Carol tried to find out if her powers would allow her to collapse in on herself and blink out of existence.

_~Flashback End~_

* * *

"Hmm, yes maybe we should take this slower, but I don't want to take a step back and stop… you know." Carol said.

Sue hummed in understanding. "Of course I was just offering a possible solution."

"Yes and it's a good idea but… well… Pete explains it by saying that the way he can stick to walls is by manipulating electrons or something, and he can do this better with his hands and feet of course but can actually use any part of his body."

"Oh." Susan elicited at a complete loss. She looked to Carol who was maintaining eye contact and her head was tilted to the side and gesturing downwards. "Ohhhh." Susan finally sounded in full understanding. "Yes, well," Sue said now quite flustered, "superpowers are always beneficial for partners."

Carol thought about Reed Richard's powers and thought Sue would definitely understand. Both super heroines seemed to lose themselves as they reminisced about their partners.

"Carol?"

The voice of Peter Parker shocked Carol and Sue into jumping out of their seats and they wheeled to face the intruder.

"Peter! How long have you been there?" Carol asked.

"We just got back." Peter said with his hands raised. "What were you talking about?"

"Girl stuff." Sue said and with those simple words Pete's eyes seemed to glaze over as though in a hypnotic trance.

Reed and Ben were now walking into the room as well.

"I thought you'd be gone much longer." Sue said to them. "What brought you back so early?"

"Oh we got an alert that the security systems around the tower had been breached so we hurried back."

"Yeah, I'd like to talk to you about that actually." Carol said feigning rage. "15 minutes I spent battling your defences."

"Oh. W…well I'm sorry." Reed stuttered but then noticed the smirking face of his wife. "Oh you're not actually angry are you?"

"Not really." Carol said with a shrug causing Ben to laugh.

"So what are you doing here?" Ben asked Carol.

"Well I'm here for Spider-man, Tony said he needed him urgently. I'm sure he's exaggerating but I didn't think it was worth risking."

"Did he say what for?" Pete asked.

"Something to do with a hyper gizmo doodat."

"Is that a no?" Pete asked with a smirk.

"No, it's a 'I apologise for not understanding the alien language you guys speak in.'" Sue and Ben both laughed at this.

"Well I better go see him then." Spider-man said. "I'll see you guys later."

"See ya." "Bye, Pete." "See you tomorrow, Spider-man."

"I'll give you a lift." Carol offered. "Just in case it is really urgent."

"Gotcha." Spiderman said and launched himself at Carol and webbing himself to her so that he was standing on her back, parallel to the floor, it was an odd looking sight, made even odder when Pete put on his mask.

Carol flew away expertly manoeuvring herself around the Baxter building, Spider-man chose to change his position so that he was clinging to her back to make it easier for Carol to fly, and out of the roof, once she was out Peter made himself comfortable by sitting cross-legged on her back.

"Tony didn't actually need me did he?"

"Of course not, we're gonna go watch Star Wars on your projector."

"Perfect."

* * *

**Thanks to JohnTitor for allaying to me concerns about the clarity of the flashback scenes so I've indicated precisely when they are, I don't think it's a perfect solution (it's a pet peeve of mine to read the word flashback in a story) but it's better than no one being able to understand the story. Perhaps it's justifiable in a short one-shot but even so I'm hoping I'll think of a way to weave this chapter together better and this will only be temporary.**


End file.
